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Proclamation 4175—Modifying Proclamation No. 3279 Relating to Imports of Petroleum and Petroleum Products

December 16, 1972


By the President of the United States Of America

A Proclamation

The Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, with the advice of the Oil Policy Committee, has under consideration a number of substantial proposals relating to the management of the oil import program under Proclamation No. 3279, as amended. Pending final decisions and announcements on those proposals, he has recommended that the Secretary of the Interior be delegated authority to provide interim allocations for the allocation period commencing January 1, 1973, and for succeeding allocation periods.

The Director, with the advice of the Oil Policy Committee, has also recommended that occasional shortages of certain finished petroleum products important to the national security should be relieved by delegating authority to the Secretary of the Interior to permit additional imports from the United States Virgin Islands. Such delegated authority then could be used with the Director's existing authorities relating to Puerto Rico and the use of Western Hemisphere crude oil in the development of programs to assist in meeting these shortages.

The Director, with the advice of the Oil Policy Committee, has found that such changes would not adversely affect the national security.

I agree with the findings and recommendations of the Director and deem it necessary and consistent with the security objectives of Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, to adjust the imports of petroleum and petroleum products, and to improve the administration of the program, as hereinafter provided.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, do hereby proclaim that, effective as of the date of this Proclamation, Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, is further amended as follows:

1. Subparagraph (4) of paragraph (b) of section 3 is amended by adding the following sentence at the end thereof:

"Whenever the Secretary, upon recommendation of the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, finds that there may be shortages in the supply of any finished product or products in Districts I—IV, which products are deemed by the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness to be important to the national security, the Secretary may allocate imports of any such product or products manufactured in the Virgin Islands in excess of the limitation in the preceding sentence for such product or products, for such time and under such conditions as he may deem consistent with the purposes of this proclamation."

2. Section 3A is amended to read as follows:

"Commencing with the allocation period January 1, 1973, through December 31, 1973, the Secretary, with the concurrence of the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, is authorized to make an interim allocation for any allocation period or portion thereof to any person who held an allocation of imports of crude oil and unfinished oils or of No. 2 fuel oil during the preceding allocation period. No such interim allocation shall exceed the like allocation held in such preceding allocation period by such person. However, the Secretary may adjust the allocation to any person limited by the previous sentence if such person would have been eligible for a larger allocation in 1973 under the regulations applicable during the allocation period commencing January 1, 1972. Any license issued under such interim allocation may be utilized for imports hereafter entering the United States prior to December 31, 1972, if authorized by the Secretary. Any allocation subsequently made to any person who receives an interim allocation pursuant to this section, shall be reduced by an amount equal to the interim allocation made pursuant to this section."

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-two and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-seventh.

Signature of Richard Nixon

RICHARD NIXON

Richard Nixon, Proclamation 4175—Modifying Proclamation No. 3279 Relating to Imports of Petroleum and Petroleum Products Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/307293

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