02.10.23

Sullivan Re-Introduces ROAR Act to Refill Strategic Reserve with American-Produced Petroleum

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) this week re-introduced the Replenishing Our American Reserves (ROAR) Act, legislation that would ensure that the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) only includes petroleum products produced in the United States, and the United States doesn’t sell petroleum products from the SPR to America’s adversaries, like China. 

“The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is meant to support our nation through major security crises—not to bail out a President’s catastrophic energy policies. President Biden’s politically-motivated draw-down of the SPR has already driven oil reserves to a 40-year low,” said Sen. Sullivan. “Today, I’m reintroducing the ROAR Act to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and, importantly, to ensure every drop of that oil is produced by the hard-working men and women of the American energy sector. It’s time for this administration to call a ceasefire in its war on American energy producers—particularly in Alaska—and let them do what they do best and refill the SPR. Believe me, we have plenty of oil in Alaska to get the job done.”

The ROAR Act requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure that only petroleum products that have been produced or refined in the United States are acquired and injected into the SPR. It would establish limitations on importing petroleum products for the purpose of filling the SPR and prohibit the export of petroleum products from the SPR to a country that is designated as a country of particular concern for religious freedom, including China. Finally, it would require DOE to issue a study on the feasibility of establishing remote crude oil and natural gas reserves in Alaska and other regions of the country. 

Senator Sullivan is also a co-sponsor of bipartisan legislation authored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to prohibit the sale of American crude oil from the SPR to any company under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, and to prohibit the export of any crude oil from the SPR to China. Other co-sponsors of the Cruz bill include Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Angus King (I-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed similar legislation by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 331 to 97, with 113 House Democrats voting in support of the bill. Sullivan is also a cosponsor of S. 11, the SAFER Act of 2023, introduced by Senators Barrasso and Collins, and S. 31, the SPR Act, also introduced by Senator Barrasso. Both bills support U.S. energy production and ensure the SPR is not a crutch for President Biden’s misguided energy policies.

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