mr. speaker , i am pleased to join with mr. stupak xz4003910 in offering this substitute which would replace the underlying bill with two targeted provisions aimed at increasing our nation 's refinery capacity and giving the federal government the tools necessary to investigate , deter and punish price gouging . 
together , these two provisions would be an effective response to problems in our gasoline market . 
the gentleman from michigan ( mr. stupak ) xz4003910 has drafted the price-gouging provisions of our amendment . 
i fully support those provisions , and i commend the gentleman for his outstanding efforts . 
i will direct my remarks today to the refinery specific provisions of our substitute . 
we would create a strategic refinery reserve . 
in doing so , we would build upon the success of the strategic petroleum reserve by creating a natural extension of that successful program of refinery reserve . 
under our amendment , the secretary of energy would establish refineries with capacity equal to 5 percent of the total united states demand for gasoline , home heating oil and other refined petroleum products . 
the location of these refineries would be out of harm 's way at places to be designated by the secretary of energy . 
during times of nonemergency , the refineries which make up the strategic reserve would produce refined gasoline for use by the federal government . 
in addition , state and local governments could choose to purchase refined products from the reserve . 
keeping the refinery reserve operational in that fashion would ensure that there would be no lag time in it going on-line when needed to address a national emergency . 
weakening the clean air laws and providing incentives to the refinery industry as proposed in the underlying bill is not the best way to ensure new refinery construction . 
there has been no evidence that environmental permitting is the problem that leads to no new refinery capacity . 
the truth is that the refinery owners are benefiting enormously from the current limited capacity , with profits increasing 255 percent during the past year alone , 255 percent of profit increase in a single year . 
simply put , the refiners are making more money by refining less gasoline . 
the substitute which the gentleman from michigan ( mr. stupak ) xz4003910 and i are offering is a commonsense approach to our problems , establishing a federal mechanism to investigate and punish price gouging and creating a strategic refinery reserve to assure adequate refining capacity during times of emergencies . 
i support strongly the substitute , and i urge its approval by the house . 
