Reading Room Document
Legal Authorities Available to the President to Respond to a Severe Energy Supply Interruption or Other Substantial Reduction in Available Petroleum Products
The following memorandum, prepared for the President for transmission to Congress in accordance with the direction in § 3 of the Energy Emergency Preparedness Act of 1982, describes in comprehensive fashion the authorities available to the President under existing statutes to respond to a severe energy supply shortage or interruption. It sets forth the legal basis for certain specific emergency preparedness activities, discusses the scope of each available emergency authority, and analyzes the differing threshold standards for activation of the President's authority under each of the statutes involved. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23221/download.
The OLC's Opinions
Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit