
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document affected by Public Law 106-469 Section 103(12),]
[CITE: 42USC6239]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                     CHAPTER 77--ENERGY CONSERVATION
 
               SUBCHAPTER I--DOMESTIC SUPPLY AVAILABILITY
 
                   Part B--Strategic Petroleum Reserve
 
Sec. 6239. Congressional review of Strategic Petroleum Reserve 
        Plan; implementation
        

(a) Congressional review of Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan as 
        prerequisite to implementation

    The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan shall not become effective and 
may not be implemented, unless--
        (1) the Secretary has transmitted such Plan to the Congress 
    pursuant to section 6234(b) of this title; and
        (2) neither House of Congress has disapproved (or both Houses 
    have approved) such Plan, in accordance with the procedures 
    specified in section 6421 of this title.

(b) Effective date of Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan

    For purposes of congressional review of the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve Plan under subsection (a) of this section, the 5 calendar days 
described in section 6421(f)(4)(A) of this title shall be lengthened to 
15 calendar days, and the 15 calendar days described in section 6421(c) 
and (d) of this title shall be lengthened to 45 calendar days.

(c) Preparation and transmittal to Congress of proposals for designing, 
        constructing, and filling storage or related facilities; 
        statement accompanying proposal

    The Secretary may, prior to transmittal of the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve Plan, prepare and transmit to the Congress proposals for 
designing, constructing, and filling storage or related facilities. Any 
such proposal shall be accompanied by a statement explaining (1) the 
need for action on such proposals prior to completion of such Plan, (2) 
the anticipated role of the proposed storage or related facilities in 
such Plan, and (3) to the maximum extent practicable, the same or 
similar assessments, statements, estimates, evaluations, projections, 
and other information which section 6234(e) of this title requires to be 
included in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan.

(d) Preparation and transmittal to Congress of amendments to Strategic 
        Petroleum Reserve Plan or Early Storage Reserve Plan; statement 
        accompanying amendment

    The Secretary may prepare amendments to the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve Plan or to the Early Storage Reserve Plan. He shall transmit any 
such amendment to the Congress together with a statement explaining the 
need for such amendment and, to the maximum extent practicable, the same 
or similar assessments, statements, estimates, evaluations, projections, 
and other information which section 6234(e) of this title requires to be 
included in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan.

(e) Presidential determination; 60-day period

    Subject to section 6241(g)(2) of this title, any amendment 
transmitted pursuant to subsection (d) of this section may not become 
effective until 60 days after the date of such transmittal, except that 
such 60-day period shall not apply if the President determines that such 
amendment is required by a severe energy supply interruption or by 
obligations of the United States under the international energy program.

(f) Powers of Secretary in implementing Strategic Petroleum Reserve 
        Plan, Early Storage Reserve Plan, proposals, and amendments

    To the extent necessary or appropriate to implement--
        (1) the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan which has taken effect 
    pursuant to subsection (a) of this section;
        (2) the Early Storage Reserve Plan;
        (3) any proposal described in subsection (c) of this section, or 
    any amendment described in subsection (d) of this section, which 
    such proposal or amendment has taken effect pursuant to subsection 
    (e) of this section;
        (4) any technical or clerical amendment or any amendment to the 
    Early Storage Reserve Plan; and
        (5) the storage of petroleum products in interim storage 
    facilities,

the Secretary may:
        (A) promulgate rules, regulations, or orders;
        (B) acquire by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, land or 
    interests in land for the location of storage and related 
    facilities;
        (C) construct, purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire storage and 
    related facilities;
        (D) use, lease, maintain, sell, or otherwise dispose of storage 
    and related facilities acquired pursuant to this part;
        (E) acquire, subject to the provisions of section 6240 of this 
    title, by purchase, exchange, or otherwise, petroleum products for 
    storage in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, including the Early 
    Storage Reserve and the Regional Petroleum Reserve;
        (F) store petroleum products in storage facilities owned and 
    controlled by the United States or in storage facilities owned by 
    others if such facilities are subject to audit by the United States;
        (G) execute any contracts necessary to carry out the provisions 
    of such Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan, Early Storage Reserve 
    Plan, proposal or amendment;
        (H) require any importer of petroleum products or any refiner to 
    (A) acquire, and (B) store and maintain in readily available 
    inventories, petroleum products in the Industrial Petroleum Reserve, 
    pursuant to section 6236 of this title;
        (I) require the storage of petroleum products in the Industrial 
    Petroleum Reserve, pursuant to section 6236 of this title, on such 
    reasonable terms as the Secretary may specify in storage facilities 
    owned and controlled by the United States or in storage facilities 
    other than those owned by the United States if such facilities are 
    subject to audit by the United States;
        (J) require the maintenance of the Industrial Petroleum Reserve;
        (K) maintain the Reserve; and
        (L) bring an action, whenever he deems it necessary to implement 
    the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan, in any court having 
    jurisdiction of such proceedings, to acquire by condemnation any 
    real or personal property, including facilities, temporary use of 
    facilities, or other interests in land, together with any personal 
    property located thereon or used therewith.

(g) Acquisition of property by negotiation as prerequisite to 
        condemnation

    Before any condemnation proceedings are instituted, an effort shall 
be made to acquire the property involved by negotiation, unless, the 
effort to acquire such property by negotiation would, in the judgement 
of the Secretary be futile or so time-consuming as to unreasonably delay 
the implementation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan, because of 
(1) reasonable doubt as to the identity of the owners, (2) the large 
number of persons with whom it would be necessary to negotiate, or (3) 
other reasons.

(h) Use of interim storage facilities; environmental considerations for 
        existing facilities

    (1) No amendment to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan relating to 
interim storage facilities shall be required prior to the storage of 
petroleum products in such facilities.
    (2) Petroleum products stored in interim storage facilities pursuant 
to this part shall be considered to be in storage in the Reserve.
    (3)(A) No action relating to the storage of petroleum products in 
existing interim storage facilities in the Reserve shall be deemed to be 
``a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the 
human environment'' within the meaning of that term as it is used in 
section 4332(2)(C) of this title.
    (B) For purposes of this paragraph, an interim storage facility 
shall be considered to be an existing interim storage facility if it--
        (i) is in existence on July 1, 1982;
        (ii) was constructed in a manner appropriate for storing 
    petroleum products; and
        (iii) is not modified after July 1, 1982, in any manner which 
    substantially increases the storage capacity of the facility. Any 
    modification of such facility may not include replacement or 
    reconstruction.

    (4) The term ``interim storage facilities'', when used in this part, 
may include any vessel which meets the applicable requirements under 
this part.

(i) Report to Congress on results of negotiations for enlargement of 
        Strategic Petroleum Reserve to one billion barrels

    No later than 18 months after September 15, 1990, the Secretary 
shall transmit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 
Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives a report on the results of negotiations undertaken 
pursuant to part C of this subchapter. The report shall--
        (1) describe the terms of any contracts negotiated pursuant to 
    part C of this subchapter and any cost savings that would result 
    from such contracts relative to the costs of acquisition pursuant to 
    this part; and
        (2) give all available information on any cost savings that 
    would likely result from additional contracts that could be 
    negotiated pursuant to part C of this subchapter for completion of 
    the storage of one billion barrels of petroleum product in the 
    Reserve relative to the costs of acquisition pursuant to this part.

(j) Amendment of Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan to include plans for 
        completion of storage of one billion barrels

    No later than 24 months after September 15, 1990, the Secretary 
shall amend the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan to prescribe plans for 
completion of storage of one billion barrels of petroleum product in the 
Reserve. Such amendment shall comply with the provisions of this section 
and shall detail the Secretary's plans for the design, construction, 
leasing or other acquisition, and fill of storage and related facilities 
of the Reserve to achieve such one billion barrels of storage. Such 
amendment shall not be subject to the congressional review procedures 
contained in section 6421 of this title. In assessing alternatives in 
the development of such plans, the Secretary shall consider leasing 
privately owned storage facilities.

(k) Exemption from subtitle IV of title 49

    A storage or related facility of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 
owned by or leased to the United States is not subject to the Interstate 
Commerce Act.

(l) Drawdown plan amendments during implementation

    Notwithstanding subsection (d) of this section, during any period in 
which the Distribution Plan is being implemented, the Secretary may 
amend the plan and promulgate rules, regulations, or orders to implement 
such amendments in accordance with section 6393 of this title, without 
regard to the requirements of section 553 of title 5 and section 7191 of 
this title. Such amendments shall be transmitted to the Congress 
together with a statement explaining the need for such amendments.

(Pub. L. 94-163, title I, Sec. 159, Dec. 22, 1975, 89 Stat. 886; Pub. L. 
95-619, title VI, Sec. 691(b)(2), Nov. 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3288; Pub. L. 
97-229, Sec. 4(b)(1), (2)(B), Aug. 3, 1982, 96 Stat. 251, 252; Pub. L. 
99-58, title I, Sec. 102(a), July 2, 1985, 99 Stat. 102; Pub. L. 101-
383, Secs. 4(a), 9, 11, Sept. 15, 1990, 104 Stat. 728, 735.)

                       References in Text

    The Interstate Commerce Act, referred to in text, is act Feb. 4, 
1887, ch. 104, 24 Stat. 379, as amended, which was classified generally 
to chapters 1, 8, 12, 13, and 19 (Secs. 1 et seq., 301 et seq., 901 et 
seq., 1001 et seq., and 1231 et seq., respectively) of former Title 49, 
Transportation. The Act was repealed (subject to an exception) by Pub. 
L. 95-473, Sec. 4(b), Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat. 1466, the first section of 
which enacted subtitle IV (Sec. 10101 et seq.) of Title 49. Section 4(c) 
of Pub. L. 95-473 excepted from repeal those provisions of the 
Interstate Commerce Act that vested functions in the Interstate Commerce 
Commission, or the chairman or members of the Commission, related to 
transportation of oil by pipeline and that were transferred to the 
Secretary of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by 
sections 7155 and 7172(b) of this title.


                               Amendments

    1990--Subsecs. (i), (j). Pub. L. 101-383, Sec. 4(a), added subsecs. 
(i) and (j).
    Subsec. (k). Pub. L. 101-383, Sec. 9, added subsec. (k).
    Subsec. (l). Pub. L. 101-383, Sec. 11, added subsec. (l).
    1985--Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 99-58 amended subsec. (e) generally, 
substituting provisions directing that amendments transmitted pursuant 
to subsec. (d) of this section not become effective until 60 days after 
transmittal except in the case of enumerated presidential determinations 
for provisions which had formerly empowered Congress to disapprove of 
transmitted proposals and amendments in accordance with the procedures 
specified in section 6421 of this title.
    1982--Subsec. (f)(5). Pub. L. 97-229, Sec. 4(b)(1), added par. (5).
    Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 97-229, Sec. 4(b)(2)(B), added subsec. (h).
    1978--Subsecs. (a)(1), (c), (d), (e)(1), (f), (f)(I), (g). Pub. L. 
95-619 substituted ``Secretary'' for ``Administrator'', meaning 
Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, wherever appearing.

                         Change of Name

    Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives treated 
as referring to Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives by 
section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104-14, set out as a note preceding section 21 
of Title 2, The Congress.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 6234, 6235, 6236, 6240, 6241 
of this title; title 10 section 7430.
