Regional Oil Reserves Not Needed, U.S. Says
WASHINGTON — The Energy Department opposes proposed legislation to establish regional petroleum reserves, a department official told a Senate panel.
In remarks to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Allen Wampler, the department’s assistant secretary for fossil fuels, said such reserves “would be a more expensive and inefficient means of supply cut-off protection.”
He said further that the government’s single Gulf Coast strategic reserve can provide cost-efficient protection for the entire country “in all but the most severe circumstances.”
Legislation has been proposed by Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D-Hawaii) to establish regional reserves in states dependent on oil imports, such as Hawaii.
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