There were plans to expand the SPR to 1 billion barrels back during the Bush administration. But, Congress defunded it.
Some of the opposition was environmental. The salt caverns are mined by pumping in water and pumping out the brine. But, the fresh water has to come from a river (on the order of millions of gallons per day) and pumped into the Gulf via a pipeline.
There were plans to expand the SPR to 1 billion barrels back during the Bush administration. But, Congress defunded it.
Some of the opposition was environmental. The salt caverns are mined by pumping in water and pumping out the brine. But, the fresh water has to come from a river (on the order of millions of gallons per day) and pumped into the Gulf via a pipeline.
The issue was the amount of water taken from the river. It could severely reduce the flow of freshwater downstream from the intake.