
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document affected by Public Law 106-469 Section 103(7)]
[CITE: 42USC6234]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                     CHAPTER 77--ENERGY CONSERVATION
 
               SUBCHAPTER I--DOMESTIC SUPPLY AVAILABILITY
 
                   Part B--Strategic Petroleum Reserve
 
Sec. 6234. Strategic Petroleum Reserve


(a) Establishment

    (1) 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 December 22, 1975, the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (or the Early Storage Reserve authorized by 
section 6235 of this title, if no Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan has 
become effective pursuant to the provisions of section 6239(a) of this 
title) shall contain not less than 150 million barrels of petroleum 
products.
    (2) Beginning on October 24, 1992, the President shall take actions 
to enlarge the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1,000,000,000 barrels as 
rapidly as possible. Such actions may include--
        (A) petroleum acquisition, transportation, and injection 
    activities at the highest practicable fill rate achievable, subject 
    to the availability of appropriated funds;
        (B) contracting for petroleum product not owned by the United 
    States as specified in part C of this subchapter;
        (C) contracting for petroleum product for storage in facilities 
    not owned by the United States, except that no such product may be 
    stored in such facilities unless petroleum product stored in 
    facilities owned by the United States on the date such product is 
    delivered for storage is at least 750,000,000 barrels;
        (D) carrying out the activities described in section 6240(h) of 
    this title;
        (E) the transferring of oil from the Naval Petroleum Reserve; 
    and
        (F) other activities specified in this subchapter.

(b) Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan

    The Secretary, not later than December 15, 1976, shall prepare and 
transmit to the Congress, in accordance with section 6421 of this title, 
a Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan. Such Plan shall comply with the 
provisions of this section and shall detail the Secretary's proposals 
for designing, constructing, and filling the storage and related 
facilities of the Reserve.

(c) Levels of crude oil to be stored

    (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) of this section, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan shall 
provide that:
        (A) within 7 years after December 22, 1975, 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 December 22, 1975, 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 December 22, 1975, 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 December 22, 1975, 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 December 22, 1975, in which average 
monthly import levels were the highest.

(d) Plan objectives

    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 Secretary 
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) Plan provisions

    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) 
    of this section, 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);
        (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.

(f) Purpose of drawdown and distribution; requests for funds for storage

    (1) The drawdown and distribution of petroleum products from the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve is authorized only under section 6241 of 
this title, and drawdown and distribution of petroleum products for 
purposes other than those described in section 6241 of this title shall 
be prohibited.
    (2) In the Secretary's annual budget submission, the Secretary shall 
request funds for acquisition, transportation, and injection of 
petroleum products for storage in the Reserve. If no requests for funds 
are made, the Secretary shall provide a written explanation of the 
reason therefore.

(Pub. L. 94-163, title I, Sec. 154, Dec. 22, 1975, 89 Stat. 882; Pub. L. 
95-619, title VI, Sec. 691(b)(2), Nov. 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3288; Pub. L. 
102-486, title XIV, Sec. 1402, Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 2994; Pub. L. 
105-177, Sec. 1(6), June 1, 1998, 112 Stat. 106.)


                               Amendments

    1998--Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 105-177 added subsec. (f).
    1992--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-486 designated existing provisions as 
par. (1) and added par. (2).
    1978--Subsecs. (b), (d). Pub. L. 95-619 substituted ``Secretary'' 
and ``Secretary's'' for ``Administrator'' and ``Administrator's'', 
respectively, meaning Administrator of the Federal Energy 
Administration, wherever appearing.


                Strategic Petroleum Reserve Drawdown Plan

    Pub. L. 97-229, Sec. 4(c), Aug. 3, 1982, 96 Stat. 252, provided 
that: ``On or before December 1, 1982, the President shall transmit to 
the Congress a drawdown plan for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 
consistent with the requirements of section 154 of the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act [this section]. Such plan shall be transmitted to the 
Congress as an amendment to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan. Such 
amendment shall take effect on the date it is transmitted to the 
Congress and shall not be subject to section 159(e) of such Act [section 
6239(e) of this title] relating to Congressional review. Subsequent 
amendments to such plan shall be in accordance with subsections (d) and 
(e) of such section 159.''

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 6235, 6238, 6239, 6249 of 
this title; title 15 section 714b.
