HOUSTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A Texas congressman toured one of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites Monday and declared it 100 percent ready to supply oil in a national emergency.
Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, visited the Big Hill Storage Facility with two other Texas Republican congressmen, John Culberson and Kevin Brady. They were concerned about energy security in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the most significant asset we have against severe supply disruption, which is a real possibility as we move toward conflict in the Middle East," Barton said at a news conference in Houston.
"I am very pleased to announce that the Big Hill Storage Facility of the SPR is at 100 percent readiness."
Although there is a 15-day notice requirement for withdrawal by President Bush, Barton said the Big Hill site is capable of performing an immediate emergency draw down.
"Those onsite are very aware of their potentiality as a target of terrorism, and are very alert to their responsibility to protect the facility," Barton said. "After my visit there today, I am comfortable that, although still vulnerable to the possibility of an air attack, they are prepared for any attempt to penetrate the site through a ground-based stealth attack."
The oil is stored in huge underground salt caverns at four sites along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana. Decisions to withdraw crude oil from the reserve during an energy emergency are made by the president under the authority of the Energy and Conservation Act.
Security is not only critical at the sites, Barton said, but also the oil supply must be kept at full capacity and he said legislation would be introduced this week to carry out that goal.
President Ford signed the legislation creating SPR in 1975 after the 1973-1974 oil embargo that cutoff oil flowing to the United States from many Arab nations. The oil shortage sent economic shockwaves throughout the nation and sparked the call for the petroleum reserve.
Since then, the SPR has been used in an emergency only once, during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. More than 540 million barrels of crude oil is currently stored in the reserve's caverns, which have a capacity of about 700 million barrels, according to SPR figures.
