States haven't slowed oil refiner permits: study - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to debate a Republican-sponsored bill to spur new U.S. oil refinery construction, Democrats unveiled a study on Monday showing regulations in 12 states have not delayed expansion permits.
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The report's findings run counter to claims by Republicans and oil industry lobbying groups who say current permitting rules have hindered U.S. refining capacity expansions and caused consumers to pay higher gasoline prices.
On Wednesday, the House is scheduled to vote on a bill sponsored by Republican lawmakers Charles Bass of New Hampshire and Joe Barton of Texas that would give the federal government more power to work with local and state officials to speed up approvals of permits to build new refineries or expand existing ones.
President George W. Bush' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> President George W. Bush has pushed for such incentives, pointing out that no new U.S. refineries have been built since 1976. Instead, refiners have chosen to expand capacity at existing facilities to meet rising U.S demand for gasoline.
A survey of 12 state agencies that have weighed expansion projects at about half of the nation's 150 refineries over the last decade shows that all but two requests got processed in less than a year, according to a copy of the survey obtained by Reuters.
For 17 of 25 projects that required permits under the Clean Air Act, states acted on permits in less than six months, according to a summary of the study written by Democratic staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
"The responses prove additional evidence that the environmental permitting process is not preventing new refineries from being built or existing refineries from being expanded," according to the report, conducted by ranking Democratic Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan based on data gathered by a group of state and local air pollution regulators.
According to a Barton spokesman, "Well, if the permitting process worked, there would be new refineries.
"If fast, safe permitting already exists and it works just fine, why not have some more?" asked Larry Neal, a Barton spokesman.
The survey spurred responses from 20 states, 12 of which had acted on refinery permits over the last 10 years. The report lacked responses from California and Texas, which have 21 and 26 refineries, respectively, according to government data.
Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said the study was incomplete without results from California, "a state often cited by our members as one in which permits are difficult to obtain."
Slaughter said the study was a case where a body of state regulators had "essentially polled itself and determined that its members have nothing to do with permitting difficulties for refineries."
The bill "will provide states additional encouragement to move expeditiously on new capacity expansions and other refinery projects," he said.
The Republican-sponsored refinery bill is similar to one that squeaked through the House last year on a 212-210 vote after Republican leaders held a five-minute vote open for 45 minutes to cajole party holdouts.
The bill failed to pass the Senate, where Republicans hold a smaller majority.
Most Democrats argue such incentives are not needed, saying that U.S. refiners have not sought many permits to build new refineries. Refiners have added about 180,000 barrels per day of capacity at existing refineries through expansion projects, according to industry estimates. That's equivalent to adding one large-scale new U.S. refinery each year.
"This is a political solution to a problem that doesn't exist," said Bill Becker, executive director of the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators, as well as the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials.
"The survey results demonstrate that there are no problems with permitting," Becker said