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“THE ENHANCED SUPPLY AND PRICE REDUCTION ACT OF 2009” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1464-E1465 on June 17, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE ENHANCED SUPPLY AND PRICE REDUCTION ACT OF 2009
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HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY
of massachusetts
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing legislation with the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Van Hollen, and the gentleman from Vermont, Mr. Welch, in order to provide relief for American consumers at the pump in the short term and save taxpayer dollars. Last summer, gas prices soared to record highs above $4 per gallon. This year, American consumers are beginning to experience a bad case of deja vu. Incredibly, today marks the 50th straight day that gas prices have risen. As a result, prices at the pump have already increased by more than one dollar a gallon since the beginning of the year. For American families who are already struggling through a down economy, these rising prices are hitting especially hard.
The Enhanced Supply and Price Reduction Act of 2009, or Enhanced SPR Act, directs the Secretary of Energy to sell 70 million barrels of light sweet crude--less than 10 percent of the total oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)--and replace it with heavy crude oil over a period of five years. Swapping oil from the SPR has a proven record of lowering oil prices in the short term. In 1991, when President Bush's father deployed oil from the reserve, oil prices fell 33.4 percent in two days. In 2000, President Clinton conducted a time exchange of oil from the SPR and prices again immediately dropped by 18.7 percent. And in 2005, when President Bush himself released oil following Hurricane Katrina, prices fell 9.1 percent. That's an average drop in the price of oil of 19.2 percent.
In addition, this legislation would implement a number of recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to better use taxpayer funds. First, swapping a small percentage of light oil in the reserve for heavier crude has been recommended by the GAO to save taxpayers money. Replacing a small percentage of light oil currently in the reserve with heavy oil would also better match up with the needs of our nation's refineries and protect us against supply disruptions from unstable countries such as Venezuela.
The legislation would also implement GAO's recommendation to purchase a constant dollar value rather than constant volume of oil to fill the SPR in the future. In testimony before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming last year, GAO testified that if the Department of Energy had taken this approach between 2001 and 2005, it would have saved American taxpayers nearly $600 million or roughly 10 percent cost to fill the SPR during that period. Finally, the bill would authorize the Secretary to purchase and store refined petroleum product in the SPR in order to further enhance our national security.
The House has already voted in support of similar legislation in the last Congress in an overwhelming, bipartisan fashion. The SPR is currently filled to roughly 99.5 percent of its capacity--its highest level ever. As we work to enact comprehensive energy and climate change legislation, Congress should take action to provide relief at the gas pump in the short term. The Enhanced SPR Act represents a common sense approach to reducing pressure on consumers while saving taxpayers dollars.
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