Department of Energy November 22, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On September 1, 2005, DOE announced its intention to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for site selection and expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (70 FR 52088). DOE at that time planned to assess the impacts of capacity expansion at three of the four existing storage sites and the development of a new storage site in the Gulf Coast region. Three scoping meetings were held and the scoping period, which was extended in response to conditions following Hurricane Katrina, closed on October 28, 2005 (70 FR 56649; September 28, 2005). On October 27, 2005, the Governor of Mississippi requested the Secretary of Energy to include a new site at Bruinsburg Salt Dome in the analysis of potential sites and environmental impacts for the proposal to expand the storage capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In light of this request, DOE has reopened the public scoping period and scheduled another scoping meeting.