Washington, D.C. - Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH02) is pleased to announce today applauded House passage of H.R. 5254,that the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act. (H.R. 5254) has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill, which Bass-authored legislation would initiated, will create a federally coordinated scheduling process for the siting, permitting, and approval of application for the construction of a gasoline or biofuel or petroleum refinery. The House passed the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act by a vote of 238 to 179.

“This legislation addresses the basic fact that our nation’s demand for refined oil products outstrips supply due to the lack of domestic refining capacity,” said Bass. “Burdensome regulations have strangled construction of additional capacity, and no oil refinery has come on line since 1976.  U.S. refineries produce roughly 17 million barrels of fuel per day to meet an average demand of 21 million barrels.  This growing shortfall increases our reliance on foreign refined products and causes prices to rise accordingly.”

The Bass legislation streamlines a badly disjointed approval process of new refineries by assisting local, state, and federal officials in untangling the confusing and sometimes contradictory regulations and permitting required by various regulatory agencies.  When an application is filed to construct a new refinery, H.R. 5254 requires the appointment of a federal coordinator who will navigate through the regulatory process as quickly as possible by pursuing permitting on parallel tracks instead of in succession.  H.R. 5254 will shorten the approval process, providing enough certainty to encourage the expansion of our nation’s refining capacity. Financial and technical assistance would be available to the states to help them gather the appropriate data and comply with all the needed requirements for a federal refinery authorization.

“This legislation addresses the basic fact that our nation’s demand for refined products outstrips supply by a growing margin due to the lack of domestic refining capacity, which has led to the predictable result of higher and higher prices for all Americans,” said Bass. “An uncertain and disorganized system of regulations and approvals has strangled the planning of all new refineries since 1976.”

“Currently, US refineries are concentrated in the Gulf States, a region vulnerable to natural disasters. That in turn puts the US refining capacity at risk and causes supply constraints and price increases,” stated Congressman Bass. “Bringing new biofuel and traditional refineries online outside of the Gulf of Mexico region is the fastest and best way to increase our energy security and restore lower cost supplies for consumers."

Domestic refineries produce roughly 17 million barrels of fuel per day to meet an average demand of 21 million barrels.  This growing shortfall increases our reliance on imported refined products and causes prices to rise accordingly. The Bass legislation would streamline a badly disjointed approval process and assist local, state, and federal officials in untangling the confusing and sometimes contradictory regulations and permitting required by various regulatory agencies. A primary goal of the legislation is also to promote new biofuel and petroleum refineries being constructed outside of the Gulf of Mexico.

The legislation also establishes a list of Presidentially designated sites on closed military bases that could serve as a suitable location for a new refinery. At least one such site must specifically be designated as a potential biorefinery.

“Currently, half of all our domestic refinery capacity is concentrated in the Gulf States, a region too vulnerable to natural disasters. That in turn puts the U.S. energy security at risk and causes periodic supply disruptions and price increases,” stated Bass. “Simply expanding our current refineries fails to address this concentration and indeed makes it worse. Moreover, such expansion only increases our over reliance on crude oil as a feedstock. Constructing new refiners in other regions provides needed geographic distribution and also creates the opportunity to utilize locally available biomass and other renewable fuel feedstocks. Our agricultural and forestry resources are currently sufficient to sustainably displace more than one third of our transportation fuel needs, and we should support domestic supply over protecting the import-dependent status quo.”

Under the legislation, financial and technical assistance would be available to the states to help them gather the appropriate data and comply with all the needed requirements for a federal refinery authorization. In addition, the legislation would require the President to designated at least three closed military bases that might serve as a suitable location for a new refinery, and at least one such designation would have to be for a potential biorefinery.

“Bringing new biofuel and traditional refineries online outside of the Gulf of Mexico region is an important and credible way to increase our energy security and restore lower cost supplies for consumers,” concluded the Peterborough Republican. “We need to improve the current system that has led to tight supplies, high prices for consumers, a risky concentration of capacity in the Gulf region, and an over dependence on foreign crude oil.”