§6234 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

Create a Strategic Petroleum Reserve to store up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products. The Secretary must run and care for the Reserve — handling its development, operation, and upkeep under this law. Petroleum can only be released and distributed for the purposes listed in section 6241; releases for other purposes are not allowed. Each year the Secretary must ask for budget money to buy, transport, and put petroleum into the Reserve. If no funds are requested, the Secretary must give a written explanation.

Title 42, §6234

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)A Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the storage of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products shall be created pursuant to this part.

(b)The Secretary, in accordance with this part, shall exercise authority over the development, operation, and maintenance of the Reserve.

(c)

(f)(1)The drawdown and distribution of petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is authorized only under section 6241 of this title, and drawdown and distribution of petroleum products for purposes other than those described in section 6241 of this title shall be prohibited.

(2)In the Secretary’s annual budget submission, the Secretary shall request funds for acquisition, transportation, and injection of petroleum products for storage in the Reserve. If no requests for funds are made, the Secretary shall provide a written explanation of the reason therefore.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2000—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–469, § 103(7)(A), amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) provided for the creation of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products and required that the Reserve contain not less than 150 million barrels of petroleum products by the end of the 3-year period beginning on Dec. 22, 1975, and that the President take actions to enlarge the Reserve to 1,000,000,000 barrels as rapidly as possible beginning Oct. 24, 1992. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 106–469, § 103(7)(B), amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows: “The Secretary, not later than December 15, 1976, shall prepare and transmit to the Congress, in accordance with section 6421 of this title, a Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan. Such Plan shall comply with the provisions of this section and shall detail the Secretary’s proposals for designing, constructing, and filling the storage and related facilities of the Reserve.” Subsecs. (c) to (e). Pub. L. 106–469, § 103(7)(C), struck out subsecs. (c) to (e) which related to the levels of crude oil to be stored, plan objectives, and plan provisions. 1998—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 105–177 added subsec. (f). 1992—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–486 designated existing provisions as par. (1) and added par. (2). 1978—Subsecs. (b), (d). Pub. L. 95–619 substituted “Secretary” and “Secretary’s” for “Administrator” and “Administrator’s”, respectively, meaning Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, wherever appearing.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Strategic Petroleum Reserve Drawdown Plan Pub. L. 97–229, § 4(c), Aug. 3, 1982, 96 Stat. 252, required the President to transmit to Congress, on or before Dec. 1, 1982, and as an amendment to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan, a drawdown plan for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve consistent with the requirements of this section, to take effect on the date of transmittal and not be subject to section 6239(e) of this title relating to Congressional review.

§6234 Strategic Petroleum Reserve