IB
Union Calendar No. 15
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1115
[Report No. 118–23]
To provide for Federal and State agency coordination in the approval of
certain authorizations under the Natural Gas Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY21, 2023
Mr. B
URGESSintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
M
ARCH23, 2023
Additional sponsors: Mrs. M
ILLER-MEEKS, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. CURTIS, and
Mr. B
UCSHON
M
ARCH23, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 21, 2023]
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A BILL
To provide for Federal and State agency coordination in
the approval of certain authorizations under the Natural
Gas Act, and for other purposes.
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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 Interagency 4
Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FERC PROCESS COORDINATION FOR NATURAL GAS 6
PIPELINE PROJECTS. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 9
means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 10
(2) F
EDERAL AUTHORIZATION .—The term ‘‘Fed-11
eral authorization’’ has the meaning given that term 12
in section 15(a) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 13
717n(a)). 14
(3) NEPA
REVIEW.—The term ‘‘NEPA review’’ 15
means the process of reviewing a proposed Federal ac-16
tion under section 102 of the National Environmental 17
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 18
(4) P
ROJECT-RELATED NEPA REVIEW.—The term 19
‘‘project-related NEPA review’’ means any NEPA re-20
view required to be conducted with respect to the 21
issuance of an authorization under section 3 of the 22
Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 23
and necessity under section 7 of such Act. 24
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(b) COMMISSIONNEPA REVIEWRESPONSIBILITIES.— 1
In acting as the lead agency under section 15(b)(1) of the 2
Natural Gas Act for the purposes of complying with the 3
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4
4321 et seq.) with respect to an authorization under section 5
3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public conven-6
ience and necessity under section 7 of such Act, the Commis-7
sion shall, in accordance with this section and other appli-8
cable Federal law— 9
(1) be the only lead agency; 10
(2) coordinate as early as practicable with each 11
agency designated as a participating agency under 12
subsection (d)(3) to ensure that the Commission devel-13
ops information in conducting its project-related 14
NEPA review that is usable by the participating 15
agency in considering an aspect of an application for 16
a Federal authorization for which the agency is re-17
sponsible; and 18
(3) take such actions as are necessary and prop-19
er to facilitate the expeditious resolution of its project- 20
related NEPA review. 21
(c) D
EFERENCE TOCOMMISSION.—In making a deci-22
sion with respect to a Federal authorization required with 23
respect to an application for authorization under section 24
3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public conven-25
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ience and necessity under section 7 of such Act, each agency 1
shall give deference, to the maximum extent authorized by 2
law, to the scope of the project-related NEPA review that 3
the Commission determines to be appropriate. 4
(d) P
ARTICIPATINGAGENCIES.— 5
(1) I
DENTIFICATION.—The Commission shall 6
identify, not later than 30 days after the Commission 7
receives an application for an authorization under 8
section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of 9
public convenience and necessity under section 7 of 10
such Act, any Federal or State agency, local govern-11
ment, or Indian Tribe that may issue a Federal au-12
thorization or is required by Federal law to consult 13
with the Commission in conjunction with the issuance 14
of a Federal authorization required for such author-15
ization or certificate. 16
(2) I
NVITATION.— 17
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days 18
after the Commission receives an application for 19
an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 20
Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 21
and necessity under section 7 of such Act, the 22
Commission shall invite any agency identified 23
under paragraph (1) to participate in the review 24
process for the applicable Federal authorization. 25
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(B) DEADLINE.—An invitation issued 1
under subparagraph (A) shall establish a dead-2
line by which a response to the invitation shall 3
be submitted to the Commission, which may be 4
extended by the Commission for good cause. 5
(3) D
ESIGNATION AS PARTICIPATING AGEN -6
CIES.—Not later than 60 days after the Commission 7
receives an application for an authorization under 8
section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of 9
public convenience and necessity under section 7 of 10
such Act, the Commission shall designate an agency 11
identified under paragraph (1) as a participating 12
agency with respect to an application for authoriza-13
tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a cer-14
tificate of public convenience and necessity under sec-15
tion 7 of such Act unless the agency informs the Com-16
mission, in writing, by the deadline established pur-17
suant to paragraph (2)(B), that the agency— 18
(A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 19
respect to the applicable Federal authorization; 20
(B) has no special expertise or information 21
relevant to any project-related NEPA review; or 22
(C) does not intend to submit comments for 23
the record for the project-related NEPA review 24
conducted by the Commission. 25
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(4) EFFECT OF NON-DESIGNATION.— 1
(A) E
FFECT ON AGENCY.—Any agency that 2
is not designated as a participating agency 3
under paragraph (3) with respect to an applica-4
tion for an authorization under section 3 of the 5
Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con-6
venience and necessity under section 7 of such 7
Act may not request or conduct a NEPA review 8
that is supplemental to the project-related NEPA 9
review conducted by the Commission, unless the 10
agency— 11
(i) demonstrates that such review is le-12
gally necessary for the agency to carry out 13
responsibilities in considering an aspect of 14
an application for a Federal authorization; 15
and 16
(ii) requires information that could not 17
have been obtained during the project-re-18
lated NEPA review conducted by the Com-19
mission. 20
(B) C
OMMENTS; RECORD.—The Commission 21
shall not, with respect to an agency that is not 22
designated as a participating agency under 23
paragraph (3) with respect to an application for 24
an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 25
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Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 1
and necessity under section 7 of such Act— 2
(i) consider any comments or other in-3
formation submitted by such agency for the 4
project-related NEPA review conducted by 5
the Commission; or 6
(ii) include any such comments or 7
other information in the record for such 8
project-related NEPA review. 9
(e) W
ATERQUALITYIMPACTS.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 401 11
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 12
1341), an applicant for a Federal authorization shall 13
not be required to provide a certification under such 14
section with respect to the Federal authorization. 15
(2) C
OORDINATION.—With respect to any NEPA 16
review for a Federal authorization to conduct an ac-17
tivity that will directly result in a discharge into the 18
navigable waters (within the meaning of the Federal 19
Water Pollution Control Act), the Commission shall 20
identify as an agency under subsection (d)(1) the 21
State in which the discharge originates or will origi-22
nate, or, if appropriate, the interstate water pollution 23
control agency having jurisdiction over the navigable 24
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waters at the point where the discharge originates or 1
will originate. 2
(3) P
ROPOSED CONDITIONS.—A State or inter-3
state agency designated as a participating agency 4
pursuant to paragraph (2) may propose to the Com-5
mission terms or conditions for inclusion in an au-6
thorization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or 7
a certificate of public convenience and necessity under 8
section 7 of such Act that the State or interstate agen-9
cy determines are necessary to ensure that any activ-10
ity described in paragraph (2) conducted pursuant to 11
such authorization or certification will comply with 12
the applicable provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 13
306, and 307 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 14
Act. 15
(4) C
OMMISSION CONSIDERATION OF CONDI -16
TIONS.—The Commission may include a term or con-17
dition in an authorization under section 3 of the Nat-18
ural Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 19
and necessity under section 7 of such Act proposed by 20
a State or interstate agency under paragraph (3) 21
only if the Commission finds that the term or condi-22
tion is necessary to ensure that any activity described 23
in paragraph (2) conducted pursuant to such author-24
ization or certification will comply with the applica-25
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ble provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307 1
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. 2
(f) S
CHEDULE.— 3
(1) D
EADLINE FOR FEDERAL AUTHORIZA -4
TIONS.—A deadline for a Federal authorization re-5
quired with respect to an application for authoriza-6
tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a cer-7
tificate of public convenience and necessity under sec-8
tion 7 of such Act set by the Commission under sec-9
tion 15(c)(1) of such Act shall be not later than 90 10
days after the Commission completes its project-re-11
lated NEPA review, unless an applicable schedule is 12
otherwise established by Federal law. 13
(2) C
ONCURRENT REVIEWS .—Each Federal and 14
State agency— 15
(A) that may consider an application for a 16
Federal authorization required with respect to 17
an application for authorization under section 3 18
of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 19
convenience and necessity under section 7 of such 20
Act shall formulate and implement a plan for 21
administrative, policy, and procedural mecha-22
nisms to enable the agency to ensure completion 23
of Federal authorizations in compliance with 24
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schedules established by the Commission under 1
section 15(c)(1) of such Act; and 2
(B) in considering an aspect of an applica-3
tion for a Federal authorization required with 4
respect to an application for authorization under 5
section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate 6
of public convenience and necessity under section 7
7 of such Act, shall— 8
(i) formulate and implement a plan to 9
enable the agency to comply with the sched-10
ule established by the Commission under 11
section 15(c)(1) of such Act; 12
(ii) carry out the obligations of that 13
agency under applicable law concurrently, 14
and in conjunction with, the project-related 15
NEPA review conducted by the Commission, 16
and in compliance with the schedule estab-17
lished by the Commission under section 18
15(c)(1) of such Act, unless the agency noti-19
fies the Commission in writing that doing 20
so would impair the ability of the agency to 21
conduct needed analysis or otherwise carry 22
out such obligations; 23
(iii) transmit to the Commission a 24
statement— 25
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(I) acknowledging receipt of the 1
schedule established by the Commission 2
under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural 3
Gas Act; and 4
(II) setting forth the plan formu-5
lated under clause (i) of this subpara-6
graph; 7
(iv) not later than 30 days after the 8
agency receives such application for a Fed-9
eral authorization, transmit to the appli-10
cant a notice— 11
(I) indicating whether such appli-12
cation is ready for processing; and 13
(II) if such application is not 14
ready for processing, that includes a 15
comprehensive description of the infor-16
mation needed for the agency to deter-17
mine that the application is ready for 18
processing; 19
(v) determine that such application for 20
a Federal authorization is ready for proc-21
essing for purposes of clause (iv) if such ap-22
plication is sufficiently complete for the 23
purposes of commencing consideration, re-24
gardless of whether supplemental informa-25
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tion is necessary to enable the agency to 1
complete the consideration required by law 2
with respect to such application; and 3
(vi) not less often than once every 90 4
days, transmit to the Commission a report 5
describing the progress made in considering 6
such application for a Federal authoriza-7
tion. 8
(3) F
AILURE TO MEET DEADLINE .—If a Federal 9
or State agency, including the Commission, fails to 10
meet a deadline for a Federal authorization set forth 11
in the schedule established by the Commission under 12
section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act, not later than 13
5 days after such deadline, the head of the relevant 14
Federal agency (including, in the case of a failure by 15
a State agency, the Federal agency overseeing the del-16
egated authority) shall notify Congress and the Com-17
mission of such failure and set forth a recommended 18
implementation plan to ensure completion of the ac-19
tion to which such deadline applied. 20
(g) C
ONSIDERATION OFAPPLICATIONS FORFEDERAL 21
A
UTHORIZATION.— 22
(1) I
SSUE IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLUTION .— 23
(A) I
DENTIFICATION.—Federal and State 24
agencies that may consider an aspect of an ap-25
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plication for a Federal authorization shall iden-1
tify, as early as possible, any issues of concern 2
that may delay or prevent an agency from work-3
ing with the Commission to resolve such issues 4
and granting such authorization. 5
(B) I
SSUE RESOLUTION.—The Commission 6
may forward any issue of concern identified 7
under subparagraph (A) to the heads of the rel-8
evant agencies (including, in the case of an issue 9
of concern that is a failure by a State agency, 10
the Federal agency overseeing the delegated au-11
thority, if applicable) for resolution. 12
(2) R
EMOTE SURVEYS.—If a Federal or State 13
agency considering an aspect of an application for a 14
Federal authorization requires the person applying 15
for such authorization to submit data, the agency 16
shall consider any such data gathered by aerial or 17
other remote means that the person submits. The 18
agency may grant a conditional approval for the Fed-19
eral authorization based on data gathered by aerial or 20
remote means, conditioned on the verification of such 21
data by subsequent onsite inspection. 22
(3) A
PPLICATION PROCESSING.—The Commis-23
sion, and Federal and State agencies, may allow a 24
person applying for a Federal authorization to fund 25
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a third-party contractor to assist in reviewing the ap-1
plication for such authorization. 2
(h) A
CCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EFFICIENCY.— 3
For an application for an authorization under section 3 4
of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 5
and necessity under section 7 of such Act that requires mul-6
tiple Federal authorizations, the Commission, with input 7
from any Federal or State agency considering an aspect 8
of the application, shall track and make available to the 9
public on the Commission’s website information related to 10
the actions required to complete the Federal authorizations. 11
Such information shall include the following: 12
(1) The schedule established by the Commission 13
under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act. 14
(2) A list of all the actions required by each ap-15
plicable agency to complete permitting, reviews, and 16
other actions necessary to obtain a final decision on 17
the application. 18
(3) The expected completion date for each such 19
action. 20
(4) A point of contact at the agency responsible 21
for each such action. 22
(5) In the event that an action is still pending 23
as of the expected date of completion, a brief expla-24
nation of the reasons for the delay. 25
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SEC. 3. PIPELINE SECURITY. 1
In considering an application for an authorization 2
under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of 3
public convenience and necessity under section 7 of such 4
Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shall con-5
sult with the Administrator of the Transportation Security 6
Administration regarding the applicant’s compliance with 7
security guidance and best practice recommendations of the 8
Administration regarding pipeline infrastructure security, 9
pipeline cybersecurity, pipeline personnel security, and 10
other pipeline security measures. 11
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15
118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 1115
[Report No. 118–23]
A BILL
To provide for Federal and State agency coordina-
tion in the approval of certain authorizations
under the Natural Gas Act, and for other pur-
poses.
M
ARCH
23, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed
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