Rep. Cole Votes for Legislation to Increase Refinery Capacity

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Cole voted for the Refinery Permit Process Scheduling Act (H.R. 5254) that will encourage the development of new domestic refineries by streamlining the permit process and identifying closed military bases that would be suitable for building refineries. H.R. 5254 passed in the House yesterday.

"While some plants in the United States have expanded, no new refineries have been built in the past 30 years. Building new refineries will decrease our dependence on foreign supplies and will also help stabilize energy prices for consumers," Congressman Cole said.

There are 148 operating refineries in the United States, down from 324 in 1981. Total capacity at operating refineries is roughly 17 million barrels per day, while total United States demand averages nearly 21 million barrels per day. This growing gap is met by an increasing amount of imports of refined products from foreign sources.

“This long-overdue, environmentally sound legislation removes red tape preventing the construction of new refineries to help put our country on the path to energy independence," Congressman Tom Cole said.

This bill would establish a federal coordinator who will convene all the players in all federal and state government agencies responsible for issuing refinery permits to help expedite the permit process. H.R. 5254 would give the Environmental Protection Agency priority in the scheduling coordination to preserve all environmental standards. It would also direct the President to identify at least three closed military bases as suitable sites for new refineries, one of which must be designated for biofuel refining.

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