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.