WASHINGTON, March 20 U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman submitted legislation to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Tuesday.
In a letter to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the committee, and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., ranking member, Bodman proposed draft legislation to increase the capacity of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1.5 billion barrels.
The move was proposed by President Bush during his State of the Union address earlier this year, when he suggested doubling the SPR. Bodman said in his letter that this legislation would realize the president's proposal.
The current inventory of the SPR is 689 million barrels of crude oil and the capacity is 727 million barrels. The International Energy Agency requires the United States to hold enough oil to meet the equivalent of 90 days worth of imports. The SPR holds 56 days worth of imports.
The legislation submitted and the increase in the SPR comes from a move toward energy security and energy independence from importing oil from unstable areas in an increasingly volatile market. However, a spokesman from Bingaman's office said sentiments have not changed since the State of the Union.
"I am a strong supporter of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but the administration has never given us a clear idea of what, short of a total calamity like Hurricane Katrina, it would take to put it to use," Bingaman said in January in response to the State of the Union. Bingaman and Domenici also told the Budget Committee they would, "look closely at the need for a larger Reserve, its cost, its impact on world markets, and its effect on oil and gasoline prices," before authorization.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
