42 U.S.C. § 6231: Congressional finding and declaration of policy

The Congress finds that the storage of substantial quantities of petroleum products will diminish the vulnerability of the United States to the effects of a severe energy supply interruption, and provide limited protection from the short-term consequences of interruptions in supplies of petroleum products. It is the policy of the United States to provide for the creation of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the storage of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum products to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products, to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program, and for other purposes as provided for in this chapter. The Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a study of the cost effectiveness, the economic benefits, and the feasibility of establishing, maintaining, and utilizing a Strategic Ethanol Reserve relative to the existing Strategic Petroleum Reserve. the benefits and losses related to the U.S. economy, farm income, employment, government commodity programs, and the trade deficit of utilizing a Strategic Ethanol Reserve, as opposed to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; and the savings from storing ethanol as opposed to storing the amount of CCC-held grain necessary to produce the ethanol. If the study shows that the Strategic Ethanol Reserve is cost effective, beneficial to the U.S. economy, and feasible in comparison with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Secretary of Agriculture may establish, maintain, and utilize a Strategic Ethanol Reserve.” the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be considered a national security asset; and enlarging the capacity and filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be accelerated (to the extent technically and economically practicable) to take advantage of any increased availability of crude oil in the world market from time to time.”