WASHINGTON, DC - Bipartisan leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today wrote to Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz requesting additional information regarding the department’s management of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The letter follows the committee’s initial May 12, 2014, request for information on the SPR.
The leaders wrote, “The SPR, according to DOE, is part of the Department’s “critical infrastructure," and serves a “National Security Critical Essential Function." Yet, DOE has not published a revised study on the optimal size of SPR in light of ever-evolving domestic and global conditions since 1990 and the last major assessment of SPR’s mission readiness was the Life Extension Program initiated in 1995. …
“Significant changes to the national energy landscape over recent years make a long-term strategic review of the SPR especially crucial at this time. Consideration of such changing circumstances could inform DOE’s planning with regard to the type of SPR repair and maintenance programs to be prioritized, and might also assist in determining the proper SPR size and crude oil composition - as well as the value of adding refined petroleum products to the reserve’s inventories."
The letter was signed by full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby Rush (D-IL), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO).
