By Debra DeHaney-Howard
October 17, 2005

Before Congress adjourned for the Columbus Day recess, the U. S. House of Representatives October 7 narrowly passed energy legislation that, among other things, seeks to stimulate construction and expansion of refineries in the United States.

The legislation, H.R. 3893, The Gas for America’s Security of 2005, – the second energy bill to be passed by the House in less than eight weeks – was passed by a vote of 212-210. The legislation does a number of things, including putting the Department of Energy (DOE) in charge of permitting for new refineries without any consideration of existing authorities and permits, which was previously handled by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Conference opposes this provision and others in the bill. It also gives the President the authority to construct a refinery on a closed military base and also requires all court cases over siting issues to be heard in the Federal Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia – not the state or local district courts. A substitute amendment offered by the House Democrats included provisions that addressed a number of issues, including price gouging and consumer protections was defeated by a vote of 199-222.

In an October 7 statement on the House energy bill, Conference of Mayors Executive Director Tom Cochran said, “We are very disturbed about the legislative process, or the lack thereof, on such significant changes to federal policy without adequate hearings involving mayors and other local official whose communities will be directly impacted by this legislation. The bill regrettably continues to emphasize unnecessary expansion of federal powers to override state and local governments regarding land usage.”

Prior to the floor debate, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (TX) stripped a controversial provision, which had the potentially of derailing the legislation, from the bill that would have weakened the New Source Review standard – a provision under the Clean Air Act that outlines the type of pollution control technology placed on new and updated facilities. The bill does, however, allow cities relief from the mandate to meet ground-level ozone pollution limits if it can show that the pollution comes from an upwind source. Essentially, the bill would “bump up” a city that is out of attainment of air quality regulations to a level that has fewer legal obligations to reduce that pollution.

Other provisions in the bill include eliminating eleven out of the seventeen gasoline and diesel fuels that refiners are currently required to use and it requires DOE to promote carpooling and establish an energy savings education program.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James M. Inhofe (OK) has scheduled hearings on its energy refinery bill, (S. 1772), The Gas Petroleum Refiner Improvement and Community Empowerment Act (Gas/Price Act) this month.