Full Title: A Turbulent World: In Defense of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Author(s): U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources
Publisher(s): U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources
Publication Date: July 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was originally authorized by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975. Today, the Senate is deliberating over the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act, known colloquially as the reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund. Such a reauthorization, however, costs billions of dollars per year. The DRIVE Act presently includes a provision that authorizes the drawdown and sale of 101 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR during the 2018-2025 period as partial payment for a three-year reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund. This report argues against such a sale, which would be unprecedented in scope and would occur at a time of elevated threats to global oil production and distribution.