strategic petroleum reserve

strategic petroleum reserve Sec. 154. (a) A Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the storage of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products shall be created pursuant to this part. By the end of the 3-year period which begins on the date of enactment of this Act, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (or the Early Storage Reserve authorized by section 155, if no Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan has become effective pursuant to the provisions of section 159(a)) shall contain not less than 150 million barrels of petroleum products. (b) The Administrator, not later than December 15, 1976, shall prepare and transmit to the Congress, in accordance with section 551, a 89 STAT. 883Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan. Such Plan shall comply with the provisions of this section and shall detail the Administrator’s proposals for designing, constructing, and filling the storage and related facilities of the Reserve. (c) (1) To the maximum extent practicable and except to the extent that any change in the storage schedule is justified pursuant to subsection (e) (6), the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan shall provide that: (A) within 7 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the volume of crude oil stored in the Reserve shall equal the total volume of crude oil which was imported into the United States during the base period specified in paragraph (2); (B) within 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the volume of crude oil stored in the Reserve shall equal not less than 10 percent of the goal specified in subparagraph (A); (C) within 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the volume of crude, oil stored in the Reserve shall equal not less than 25 percent of the goal specified in subparagraph (A); and (D) within 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the volume of crude oil stored in the Reserve shall equal not less than 65 percent of the goal specified in subparagraph (A). Volumes of crude oil initially stored in the Early Storage Reserve and volumes of crude oil stored in the Industrial Petroleum Reserve, and the Regional Petroleum Reserve shall be credited toward attainment of the storage goals specified in this subsection. (2) The base period shall be the period of the 3 consecutive months, during the 24-month period preceding the date of enactment of this Act, in which average monthly import levels were the highest. (d) The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan shall be designed to assure, to the maximum extent practicable, that the Reserve will minimize the impact of any interruption or reduction in imports of refined petroleum products and residual fuel oil in any region which the Administrator determines is, or is likely to become, dependent upon such imports for a substantial portion of the total energy requirements of such region. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan shall be designed to assure, to the maximum extent practicable, that each noncontiguous area of the United States which does not have overland access to domestic crude oil production has its component of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve within its respective territory. (e) The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Plan shall include: (1) a comprehensive environmental assessment; (2) a description of the type and proposed location of each storage facility (other than storage facilities of the Industrial Petroleum Reserve) proposed to be included in the Reserve; (3) a statement as to the proximity of each such storage facility to related facilities; (4) an estimate of the volumes and types of petroleum products proposed to be stored in each such storage facility; (5) a projection as to the aggregate size of the Reserve, including a statement as to the most economically-efficient storage levels for each such storage facility; (6) a justification for any changes, with respect to volumes or dates, proposed in the storage schedule specified in subsection (c), and a program schedule for overall development and completion of the Reserve (taking into account all relevant factors, including cost effectiveness, the need to construct related facilities, and the ability to obtain sufficient quantities of petroleum products to fill the storage facilities to the proposed storage levels); 89 STAT. 884 (7) an estimate of the direct cost of the Reserve, including— (A) the cost of storage facilities; (B) the cost of the petroleum products to be stored; (C) the cost of related facilities; and (D) management and operation costs; (8) an evaluation of the impact of developing the Reserve, taking into account— (A) the availability and the price of supplies and equipment and the effect, if any, upon domestic production of acquiring such supplies and equipment for the Reserve; (B) any fluctuations in world, and domestic, market prices for petroleum products which may result from the acquisition of substantial quantities of petroleum products for the Reserve; (C) the extent to which such acquisition may support otherwise declining market prices for such products; and (D) the extent to which such acquisition will affect competition in the petroleum industry; (9) an identification of the ownership of each storage and related facility proposed to be included in the Reserve (other than storage and related facilities of the Industrial Petroleum Reserve); (10) an identification of the ownership of the petroleum products to be stored in the Reserve in any case where such products are not owned by the United States; (11) a statement of the manner in which the provisions of this part relating to the establishment of the Industrial Petroleum Reserve and the Regional Petroleum Reserve will be implemented; and (12) a Distribution Plan setting forth the method of drawdown and distribution of the Reserve.