§6281. Congressional findings, policy, and purpose
(a) Findings
The Congress finds that-
(1) a shortage of petroleum products caused by reductions in imports of petroleum products may occur at any time;
(2) such a shortage may be sufficiently large to cause severe economic dislocations and hardships, or constitute a serious threat to public health, safety, and welfare; and
(3) prior to the occurrence of such a shortage, the Federal Government has a responsibility to be prepared to mitigate the adverse impacts of such a shortage as a supplement to reliance on free market pricing and allocation of available petroleum product supplies.
(b) Policy
The Congress declares that it shall be the policy of the United States that the Federal Government shall be prepared prior to any shortage of petroleum products to respond to energy emergencies, pursuant to authorities under provisions of law other than this part, as a supplement to reliance on the free market to mitigate the adverse impacts of a shortage of petroleum products on public health, safety, and welfare.
(c) Purpose
The purpose of this part is to carry out the policy in subsection (b) of this section by providing for the preparation of comprehensive energy emergency response procedures to be available for use by the President under authorities contained in any provision of law other than this part.
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