Political Quotes

“I rise before you today in favor of H.R. 4517, the U.S. Refinery Revitalization Act of 2004. Existing U.S. refineries are already operating at or near full capacity because this country hasn't added new refineries in almost three decades. As Director of Energy at USDA during the 1970s Arab oil embargo, I find that not only hard to believe, but unacceptable. EPA implemented tougher Clean Air Act regulations, including a program that requires refiners to take expensive steps to cut factory emissions when they expand capacity or build new plants. Many refiners couldn't meet the requirements and have gone out of business. Now, we only have the capacity to meet about 90 percent of our gasoline needs. This is especially significant in Michigan where we have just one refinery left--the Marathon Ashland plant in Detroit. In addition to federal law, the state of Michigan also needs to consider changes in state law and regulation that will encourage the building of more refineries in Michigan. U.S. laws requiring dozens of different regional gasoline formulations have created unusual fuel requirements that are not easily met by foreign refiners. Each formulation requires different pipelines and trucks for different parts of the country that increase the cost. A shortage of clean tankers available to ship gasoline from overseas is yet another bottleneck.”