U.S. Federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve

378885 0: Field operator Greg Buckley inspects the pipelines September 21, 2000 at the Federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve facility known as Big Hill near Beaumont, Texas. With America growing concerned over the threat of high heating costs, vice president Al Gore proposed tapping the government's strategic petroleum reserve to force down oil prices before winter arrives. The facility, one of four crude oil storage sites run by the U.S. government is prepared to release oil if the order is issued. The Big Hill facility has 14 underground solution-mined storage caverns that have a combined storage capacity of 160 million barrels. The site has demonstrated the capability to deliver crude at 930,000 barrels per day. The Big Hill site is connected via a 25-mile, 36-inch pipeline to the Sun Marine Terminal and the Unocal Marine Terminal at Nederland, Texas. The pipeline also interconnects with the Texaco 20-inch pipeline system in Port Arthur, Texas. The reserve, created in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo, is intended to provide a stopgap in case of disruptions in oil imports. It has been used only once, during the Gulf War in 1991. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)