Volume 152, No. 10 covering the of the 109th Congress (2005 - 2006) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“COMMENTS ON SECTION 1403 OF ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E51 on Feb. 1, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
COMMENTS ON SECTION 1403 OF ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005
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HON. JOE BARTON
of texas
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was signed by the President in August. This Act is the most comprehensive energy legislation in 30 years, and I believe it will lower energy prices for consumers, spur our economy, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and take unprecedented steps to promote greater energy conservation and efficiency. I want to highlight one provision that I included in the House passed version of this legislation and which was retained in the final conference report. This provision promotes energy efficiency of electric transformers and improved public safety, but also promotes strong environmental stewardship. This provision, [section 1403,] governs the use of non petroleum oil in electric transformers as electrical insulation.
The intent of section 1403 was to provide clarity for the new Oil Spill Prevention, Containment, and Countermeasures (SPCC) regulations. As some of my colleagues know, electric transformers, whether the small buckets on telephone poles or those pad mounted on the ground, include some quantities of oil used as an electrical insulation and thermal dissipation medium.
Under SPCC, small and rural utilities and institutions that have their own electric transformers--including hospitals, schools, and military bases--will be required to build secondary containment diking around their electric transformers in case there is a spill of the oil used in transformers as thermal insulation. It should be noted that by the government's own estimates, facilities with less than 10,000 gallons of storage capacity account for less than 2 percent of the total volume of oil spilled in the United States. Furthermore, the amount of volume contained in electric transformers is well below this figure.
All those facts aside, section 1403 was included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as a means to provide an alternative to the increased costs of Federal regulations on rural communities and institutions that have electric transformers, providing regulatory relief for bio-based oils that have proven environmental benefits. Specifically, local communities and institutions that have electric transformers can avoid the costs of constructing secondary diking containment around their transformers if they use bio-based, non petroleum oils as insulation. In addition, many older electric transformers still contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in their electrical insulation. By promoting these alternatives to petroleum-based oil used as thermal insulation in electric transformers, we provide a smart and environmentally friendly option to encourage the replacement of PCBs. It should be noted that this provision was retained in the final legislation without opposition or controversy.
Additionally, in 1995, Congress passed the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act. This statue set forth specific guidelines for implementing regulations on oil spills. The Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act states
``. . . in issuing or enforcing any regulation or establishing any interpretation or guideline relating to the transportation, storage, discharge, release, emission, or disposal of a fat, oil, or grease under any Federal law, the head of that Federal agency shall differentiate between and establish separate classes . . . and consider differences in the physical, chemical, biological, and other properties, and in the environment.'' Nearly a decade later, EPA continues to maintain the position that ``oil is oil.'' EPA has either been unwilling or unable to differentiate between the different classes of oils. I raise this issue because I want to make clear how the author of section 1403 intends it to be interpreted.
Section 1403, Regulation of Certain Oil Used in Transformers, reads as follows: ``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, or rule promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency, vegetable oil made from soybeans and used in electric transformers as thermal insulation shall not be regulated as an oil identified under section 2(a)(1)(B) of the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act (33 U.S.C. 2720(a)(1)(B)).''
EPA's broad generalization that ``oil is oil'' disregards renewable oils that, I believe, have an improved effect on the environment in case of a spill. EPA's broad policy impedes the replacement of fluids known to be harmful to the environment with fluids that have proven, tested benefits for the environment.
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