I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1058
To establish a more uniform, transparent, and modern process to authorize
the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of international
border-crossing facilities for the import and export of oil and natural
gas and the transmission of electricity.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY17, 2023
Mr. A
RMSTRONGintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on
Transportation and Infrastructure, and Natural Resources, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To establish a more uniform, transparent, and modern proc-
ess to authorize the construction, connection, operation,
and maintenance of international border-crossing facili-
ties for the import and export of oil and natural gas
and the transmission of electricity.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Cross-bor-4
der Energy Infrastructure Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 1058 IH
SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING NORTH AMERICAN ENERGY SECU-1
RITY. 2
(a) A
UTHORIZATION OF CERTAINENERGYINFRA-3
STRUCTUREPROJECTS AT AN INTERNATIONAL BOUND-4
ARY OF THEUNITEDSTATES.— 5
(1) A
UTHORIZATION.—Except as provided in 6
paragraph (3) and subsection (e), no person may 7
construct, connect, operate, or maintain a border- 8
crossing facility for the import or export of oil or 9
natural gas, or the transmission of electricity, across 10
an international border of the United States without 11
obtaining a certificate of crossing for the border- 12
crossing facility under this subsection. 13
(2) C
ERTIFICATE OF CROSSING.— 14
(A) R
EQUIREMENT.—Not later than 120 15
days after final action is taken, by the relevant 16
official or agency identified under subparagraph 17
(B), under the National Environmental Policy 18
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with re-19
spect to a border-crossing facility for which a 20
person requests a certificate of crossing under 21
this subsection, the relevant official or agency, 22
in consultation with appropriate Federal agen-23
cies, shall issue a certificate of crossing for the 24
border-crossing facility unless the relevant offi-25
cial or agency finds that the construction, con-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 1058 IH
nection, operation, or maintenance of the bor-1
der-crossing facility is not in the public interest 2
of the United States. 3
(B) R
ELEVANT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY .— 4
The relevant official or agency referred to in 5
subparagraph (A) is— 6
(i) the Federal Energy Regulatory 7
Commission with respect to border-cross-8
ing facilities consisting of oil or natural 9
gas pipelines; and 10
(ii) the Secretary of Energy with re-11
spect to border-crossing facilities consisting 12
of electric transmission facilities. 13
(C) A
DDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR 14
ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION FACILITIES .—In the 15
case of a request for a certificate of crossing for 16
a border-crossing facility consisting of an elec-17
tric transmission facility, the Secretary of En-18
ergy shall require, as a condition of issuing the 19
certificate of crossing under subparagraph (A), 20
that the border-crossing facility be constructed, 21
connected, operated, or maintained consistent 22
with all applicable policies and standards of— 23
(i) the Electric Reliability Organiza-24
tion and the applicable regional entity; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 1058 IH
(ii) any Regional Transmission Orga-1
nization or Independent System Operator 2
with operational or functional control over 3
the border-crossing facility. 4
(3) E
XCLUSIONS.—This subsection shall not 5
apply to any construction, connection, operation, or 6
maintenance of a border-crossing facility for the im-7
port or export of oil or natural gas, or the trans-8
mission of electricity— 9
(A) if the border-crossing facility is oper-10
ating for such import, export, or transmission 11
as of the date of enactment of this Act; 12
(B) if a Presidential permit (or similar 13
permit) for the construction, connection, oper-14
ation, or maintenance has been issued pursuant 15
to any provision of law or Executive order; or 16
(C) if an application for a Presidential per-17
mit (or similar permit) for the construction, 18
connection, operation, or maintenance is pend-19
ing on the date of enactment of this Act, until 20
the earlier of— 21
(i) the date on which such application 22
is denied; or 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 1058 IH
(ii) two years after the date of enact-1
ment of this Act, if such a permit has not 2
been issued by such date of enactment. 3
(4) E
FFECT OF OTHER LAWS .— 4
(A) A
PPLICATION TO PROJECTS .—Nothing 5
in this subsection or subsection (e) shall affect 6
the application of any other Federal statute to 7
a project for which a certificate of crossing for 8
a border-crossing facility is requested under 9
this subsection. 10
(B) N
ATURAL GAS ACT.—Nothing in this 11
subsection or subsection (e) shall affect the re-12
quirement to obtain approval or authorization 13
under sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act 14
for the siting, construction, or operation of any 15
facility to import or export natural gas. 16
(C) O
IL PIPELINES.—Nothing in this sub-17
section or subsection (e) shall affect the author-18
ity of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commis-19
sion with respect to oil pipelines under section 20
60502 of title 49, United States Code. 21
(b) I
MPORTATION OR EXPORTATION OF NATURAL 22
G
AS TOCANADA ANDMEXICO.—Section 3(c) of the Nat-23
ural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b(c)) is amended by adding 24
at the end the following: ‘‘In the case of an application 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 1058 IH
for the importation of natural gas from, or the exportation 1
of natural gas to, Canada or Mexico, the Commission shall 2
grant the application not later than 30 days after the date 3
on which the Commission receives the complete applica-4
tion.’’. 5
(c) T
RANSMISSION OFELECTRICENERGY TOCAN-6
ADA ANDMEXICO.— 7
(1) R
EPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO SECURE 8
ORDER.—Section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act 9
(16 U.S.C. 824a(e)) is repealed. 10
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .— 11
(A) S
TATE REGULATIONS.—Section 202(f) 12
of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(f)) 13
is amended by striking ‘‘insofar as such State 14
regulation does not conflict with the exercise of 15
the Commission’s powers under or relating to 16
subsection 202(e)’’. 17
(B) S
EASONAL DIVERSITY ELECTRICITY 18
EXCHANGE.—Section 602(b) of the Public Util-19
ity Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 20
824a–4(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘the Com-21
mission has conducted hearings and made the 22
findings required under section 202(e) of the 23
Federal Power Act’’ and all that follows 24
through the period at the end and inserting 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 1058 IH
‘‘the Secretary has conducted hearings and 1
finds that the proposed transmission facilities 2
would not impair the sufficiency of electric sup-3
ply within the United States or would not im-4
pede or tend to impede the coordination in the 5
public interest of facilities subject to the juris-6
diction of the Secretary.’’. 7
(d) N
OPRESIDENTIALPERMITREQUIRED.—No 8
Presidential permit (or similar permit) shall be required 9
pursuant to any provision of law or Executive order for 10
the construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of 11
an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission facil-12
ity, or any border-crossing facility thereof. 13
(e) M
ODIFICATIONS TO EXISTINGPROJECTS.—No 14
certificate of crossing under subsection (a), or Presidential 15
permit (or similar permit), shall be required for a modi-16
fication to— 17
(1) an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 18
transmission facility that is operating for the import 19
or export of oil or natural gas or the transmission 20
of electricity as of the date of enactment of this Act; 21
(2) an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 22
transmission facility for which a Presidential permit 23
(or similar permit) has been issued pursuant to any 24
provision of law or Executive order; or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 1058 IH
(3) a border-crossing facility for which a certifi-1
cate of crossing has previously been issued under 2
subsection (a). 3
(f) E
FFECTIVEDATE; RULEMAKINGDEADLINES.— 4
(1) E
FFECTIVE DATE .—Subsections (a) 5
through (e), and the amendments made by such sub-6
sections, shall take effect on the date that is 1 year 7
after the date of enactment of this Act. 8
(2) R
ULEMAKING DEADLINES .—Each relevant 9
official or agency described in subsection (a)(2)(B) 10
shall— 11
(A) not later than 180 days after the date 12
of enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal 13
Register notice of a proposed rulemaking to 14
carry out the applicable requirements of sub-15
section (a); and 16
(B) not later than 1 year after the date of 17
enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal 18
Register a final rule to carry out the applicable 19
requirements of subsection (a). 20
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
(1) B
ORDER-CROSSING FACILITY.—The term 22
‘‘border-crossing facility’’ means the portion of an oil 23
or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission facil-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9
•HR 1058 IH
ity that is located at an international boundary of 1
the United States. 2
(2) M
ODIFICATION.—The term ‘‘modification’’ 3
includes a reversal of flow direction, change in own-4
ership, change in flow volume, addition or removal 5
of an interconnection, or an adjustment to maintain 6
flow (such as a reduction or increase in the number 7
of pump or compressor stations). 8
(3) N
ATURAL GAS.—The term ‘‘natural gas’’ 9
has the meaning given that term in section 2 of the 10
Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717a). 11
(4) O
IL.—The term ‘‘oil’’ means petroleum or 12
a petroleum product. 13
(5) E
LECTRIC RELIABILITY ORGANIZATION ; RE-14
GIONAL ENTITY.—The terms ‘‘Electric Reliability 15
Organization’’ and ‘‘regional entity’’ have the mean-16
ings given those terms in section 215 of the Federal 17
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o). 18
(6) I
NDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR ; RE-19
GIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION .—The terms 20
‘‘Independent System Operator’’ and ‘‘Regional 21
Transmission Organization’’ have the meanings 22
given those terms in section 3 of the Federal Power 23
Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 24
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1058.IH H1058
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS