Department of Energy September 1, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT), enacted on August 8, 2005, directs the Secretary of Energy to acquire petroleum to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to its authorized 1 billion-barrel capacity as expeditiously as possible, and, no later than 1 year after enactment, to select sites necessary to expand the SPR from its current 727 million-barrel capacity to 1 billion barrels. DOE has determined that the site selection and expansion required by EPACT constitute a major Federal action which may have a significant impact upon the environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For this reason, DOE intends to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to assess the proposed capacity expansion at three of the four existing SPR storage sites and the development of a new storage site in the Gulf Coast region. DOE will prepare the EIS in accordance with NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) and the DOE NEPA regulations (10 CFR Part 1021).