S 1388 Introduced – Petroleum Coke Study

As I noted in an earlier post, Sen. Levin (D,MI) introduced S 1388, the Petroleum Coke Transparency and Public Health Study Act. This is not, as I suggested earlier, a companion bill to HR 2298. The general topic is the same, an HHS study about petroleum coke, but the tone and mandate are slightly different.

While the House bill requires an HHS study be published in 90 days on the “public health and environmental impacts of the production, transportation, storage, and use of petroleum coke” {§3}, the Senate bill is slightly more expansive, requiring:

• An analysis of the public health and environmental impacts of the production, transportation, storage, and use of petroleum coke {§3(a)(1)};

• An assessment of potential approaches and best practices for storing, transporting, and managing petroleum coke{§3(a)(2)}; and

• A quantitative analysis of current and projected domestic petroleum coke production and utilization locations{§3(a)(3)}.

There is also a requirement to use the “best available science” and to solicit “readily available information from appropriate State agencies, nonprofit entities, academic entities, and industry” {§3(b)}. It also provides the Secretary 180 days to submit the study results to Congress.

Section 4 of the Senate bill is slightly narrower in focus than the House bill. Where HR 2298 required the establishment of an HHS web site that included all of the available “federally conducted research related to the public health and environmental impacts of the production, transportation, storage, and use of petroleum coke”, the Senate bill only requires the publication of this new study on an HHS web site.

The Senate bill has a slight chance of making it to the floor for consideration and because of its more moderate tone might get enough votes to overcome the opposition of proponents of the Keystone Pipeline. If it does get through the Senate, the Republican leadership will never bring this bill to the floor because they would consider it an attack on that pipeline project.