Bush reiterates US needs more refining capacity in wake of storms

New York (Platts)--4Oct2005

US President George Bush Tuesday called on Congress to move forward with
legislation to expand the nation's refining capacity, saying Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita should have made the need apparent to all Americans.
     "We need more refining capacity," Bush told reporters at a press briefing
at the White House, televised lived. "It ought to be clear to everybody that
this country needs to build more refinery capacity to be able to deal with the
issue of tight supplies."
     Bush said he would "work with Congress" to come up with a "reasonable"
law to not only build new refinery capacity but to expand existing refining
capacity.
     The US House Energy and Commerce Committee last week passed legislation
designed to expand refining capacity by streamlining the permitting process by
putting authority in the hands of the Department of Energy, and by having the
president designate federal lands, including closed military bases, which
would be appropriate for siting refineries. 
    That bill is slated to be voted on by the full House on Friday. 
    Meanwhile, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is working on
its own version of legislation to spur the building of refining capacity. That
bill, which has not yet been debated in committee, would keep permitting
decisions with the Environmental Protection Agency, but would allow the
governor of a state or the governing body of an Indian tribe to request the
EPA streamline the refinery permitting process.

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