June 8, 2006

Pryce Votes to Increase
our Refining Capacity

Bill Will Decrease our Nation’s Dependence on Foreign Oil  

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington) voted in support of the Refinery Permit Scheduling Act (HR 5254), legislation addressing our nation’s need to increase our domestic ability to refine crude oil. The bill will streamline the ability of oil companies to build new refineries without jeopardizing important environmental protections.

“Economists widely identify the surging demand for oil as one of the primary reasons for rising gas prices,” said Pryce. “Supply, however, has remained static, as not one new refinery has been built in our nation since the Ford Administration, largely because of the red tape and complexity of the permitting process. This bill will eliminate needless delays in the permitting process by better governing permit review and allowing for concurrent agency action.”

“This bill serves two ends – increasing our oil supply to bring down prices at the pump, and ensuring a responsive regulatory process to an industry creating a product critically needed by our nation and our economy. Opponents of this and other common-sense gas price relief measures continue to curse the darkness rather than light a single candle.”

The bill will coordinate the actions of state and federal regulatory agencies to expedite the permitting process. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is given priority in the scheduling coordination to ensure that environmental concerns like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act are given maximum deference.

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