118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 7176
AN ACT
To repeal restrictions on the export and import of natural
gas.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 7176 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unlocking our Domes-2
tic LNG Potential Act of 2024’’. 3
SEC. 2. ADVANCING UNITED STATES GLOBAL LEADERSHIP. 4
Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) 5
is amended— 6
(1) by striking subsections (a) through (c); 7
(2) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 8
subsections (a) and (b), respectively; 9
(3) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-10
section (c), and moving such subsection after sub-11
section (b), as so redesignated; 12
(4) in subsection (a), as so redesignated, by 13
amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: ‘‘(1) The 14
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (in this sub-15
section referred to as the ‘Commission’) shall have 16
the exclusive authority to approve or deny an appli-17
cation for authorization for the siting, construction, 18
expansion, or operation of a facility to export nat-19
ural gas from the United States to a foreign country 20
or import natural gas from a foreign country, in-21
cluding an LNG terminal. In determining whether to 22
approve or deny an application under this para-23
graph, the Commission shall deem the exportation or 24
importation of natural gas to be consistent with the 25
public interest. Except as specifically provided in 26 3
•HR 7176 EH
this Act, nothing in this Act is intended to affect 1
otherwise applicable law related to any Federal 2
agency’s authorities or responsibilities related to fa-3
cilities to import or export natural gas, including 4
LNG terminals.’’; and 5
(5) by adding at the end the following new sub-6
section: 7
‘‘(d)(1) Nothing in this Act limits the authority of 8
the President under the Constitution, the International 9
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 10
seq.), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et 11
seq.), part B of title II of the Energy Policy and Conserva-12
tion Act (42 U.S.C. 6271 et seq.), the Trading With the 13
Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.), or any other provi-14
sion of law that imposes sanctions on a foreign person or 15
foreign government (including any provision of law that 16
prohibits or restricts United States persons from engaging 17
in a transaction with a sanctioned person or government), 18
including a country that is designated as a state sponsor 19
of terrorism, to prohibit imports or exports. 20
‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘state sponsor of ter-21
rorism’ means a country the government of which the Sec-22
retary of State determines has repeatedly provided sup-23
port for international terrorism pursuant to— 24 4
•HR 7176 EH
‘‘(A) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Con-1
trol Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4318(c)(1)(A)); 2
‘‘(B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 3
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 4
‘‘(C) section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act 5
(22 U.S.C. 2780); or 6
‘‘(D) any other provision of law.’’. 7
Passed the House of Representatives February 15,
2024.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 7176
AN ACT
To repeal restrictions on the export and import of
natural gas.