Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975

Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975

Long title	An Act to increase domestic energy supplies and availability; to restrain energy demand; to prepare for energy emergencies; and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	EPCA
Enacted by	the 94th United States Congress
Citations
Public law	94-163
Statutes at Large	89 Stat. 871
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S.622 by Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) on February 7, 1975 Passed the Senate on April 10, 1975 (60-25) Passed the House on September 23, 1975 (255-148) Reported by the joint conference committee on December 9, 1975; agreed to by the House on December 15, 1975 (300-103) and by the Senate on December 17, 1975 (58-40) Signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 22, 1975
Major amendments
National Energy Conservation Policy Act

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) (Pub.L. 94–163, 89 Stat. 871, enacted December 22, 1975) is a United States Act of Congress that responded to the 1973 oil crisis by creating a comprehensive approach to federal energy policy. The primary goals of EPCA are to increase energy production and supply, reduce energy demand, provide energy efficiency, and give the executive branch additional powers to respond to disruptions in energy supply. Most notably, EPCA established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products, and Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations.

The need for a national oil storage reserve had been recognized for at least three decades. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes advocated the stockpiling of emergency crude oil in 1944. President Harry S Truman's Minerals Policy Commission proposed a strategic oil supply in 1952. President Dwight Eisenhower suggested an oil reserve after the 1956 Suez Crisis. The Cabinet Task Force on Oil Import Control recommended a similar reserve in 1970.

But few events so dramatically underscored the need for a strategic oil reserve as the 1973-74 oil embargo. The cutoff of oil flowing into the United States from OPEC sent economic shockwaves throughout the nation. In the aftermath of the oil crises, the United States established the SPR.

The EPCA declared it to be U.S. policy to establish a reserve of petroleum, setting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) into motion, and extended the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 (EPAA). A number of existing storage sites were acquired in 1977. Construction of the first surface facilities began in June 1977. On July 21, 1977, the first oil—approximately 412,000 barrels (65,500 m³) of Saudi Arabian light crude—was delivered to the SPR. Fill was suspended in FY 1995 to devote budget resources to refurbishing the SPR equipment and extending the life of the complex. The current SPR sites are expected to be usable until around 2025. Fill was resumed in 1999.

...
Wikipedia