Source reporting: Dallas Express
Two Texas members of Congress have introduced bipartisan legislation requiring a public review of the aging Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to the Dallas Express. U.S. Reps. Lizzie Fletcher, a Houston Democrat, and August Pfluger, a San Angelo Republican, filed the 21st Century Strategic Petroleum Reserve Act on September 3.
The bill, H.R. 10262, would not immediately add oil, expand storage capacity or appropriate construction money. Instead, it would direct the U.S. energy secretary, within 90 days of enactment, to ask the National Petroleum Council to conduct a modernization study. The council would have one year to submit its findings to the Energy Department and Congress and make the report public.
The proposed study would examine whether to distribute reserve facilities across more regions, expand capacity, store refined fuels and increase the speed at which petroleum can enter or leave the system. It would also review facility resilience during frequent drawdowns, strategies for buying oil when prices are low, congressionally required sales and unfinished work under the reserve’s Life Extension II infrastructure program.
The Dallas Express reported that the reserve held 286.6 million barrels of crude oil for the week ending August 28. That was 118.1 million barrels below the same period in 2025 and about 40 percent of the Energy Department’s listed 714-million-barrel authorized capacity. The inventory figure reflects the amount on hand, not necessarily the physical condition or usable capacity of every facility.
Texas has a direct operational stake. Two of the reserve’s four storage locations are Bryan Mound near Freeport and Big Hill near Winnie. The other two are in Louisiana. Across the system, oil is stored in underground caverns carved into Gulf Coast salt domes near pipelines, refineries and marine terminals.
The measure remains at the beginning of the legislative process. It was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and has not passed either chamber, the Dallas Express reported. Statements from Fletcher and Pfluger describing the reserve as a national-security priority are the sponsors’ rationale for the bill, not findings from the proposed study.
The public-integrity significance lies in the legislation’s reporting requirement. A public assessment could give Congress and taxpayers a clearer record of infrastructure needs, incomplete projects, costs and policy tradeoffs before additional spending or changes to reserve operations are approved. For Texas, the review could also affect two federal facilities, Gulf Coast energy infrastructure and the state’s role in national emergency preparedness.