II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 988
To provide for coordination by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
of the process for reviewing certain natural gas projects under the juris-
diction of the Commission, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH27, 2023
Mr. H
OEVEN(for himself and Mr. SULLIVAN) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources
A BILL
To provide for coordination by the Federal Energy Regu-
latory Commission of the process for reviewing certain
natural gas projects under the jurisdiction of the Com-
mission, and for other purposes.
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 Projects Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FERC PROCESS COORDINATION FOR NATURAL GAS 6
PROJECTS. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
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(1) CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE 1
AND NECESSITY.—The term ‘‘certificate of public 2
convenience and necessity’’ means a certificate of 3
public convenience and necessity issued under sec-4
tion 7 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717f). 5
(2) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 6
means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 7
(3) F
EDERAL AUTHORIZATION .—The term 8
‘‘Federal authorization’’ has the meaning given the 9
term in section 15(a) of the Natural Gas Act (15 10
U.S.C. 717n(a)). 11
(4) NEPA
REVIEW.—The term ‘‘NEPA review’’ 12
means the process of reviewing a proposed Federal 13
action under section 102 of the National Environ-14
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 15
(5) P
ROJECT-RELATED NEPA REVIEW .—The 16
term ‘‘project-related NEPA review’’ means any 17
NEPA review required to be conducted with respect 18
to the issuance of— 19
(A) an authorization under section 3 of the 20
Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b); or 21
(B) a certificate of public convenience and 22
necessity. 23
(b) C
OMMISSIONNEPA REVIEWRESPONSIBIL-24
ITIES.—In acting as the lead agency under section 25
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15(b)(1) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717n(b)(1)) 1
for the purposes of complying with the National Environ-2
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with 3
respect to an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 4
Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) or a certificate of public conven-5
ience and necessity, the Commission shall, in accordance 6
with this section and other applicable Federal law— 7
(1) be the only lead agency; 8
(2) coordinate as early as practicable with each 9
agency designated as a participating agency under 10
subsection (d)(3) to ensure that the Commission de-11
velops information in conducting project-related 12
NEPA review that is usable by the participating 13
agency in considering an aspect of an application for 14
a Federal authorization for which the agency is re-15
sponsible; and 16
(3) take such actions as are necessary and 17
proper to facilitate the expeditious resolution of 18
project-related NEPA review. 19
(c) D
EFERENCE TOCOMMISSION.—In making a deci-20
sion with respect to a Federal authorization required with 21
respect to an application for an authorization under sec-22
tion 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) or a cer-23
tificate of public convenience and necessity, each agency 24
shall give deference, to the maximum extent authorized 25
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by law, to the scope of the project-related NEPA review 1
that the Commission determines to be appropriate. 2
(d) P
ARTICIPATINGAGENCIES.— 3
(1) I
DENTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days 4
after receiving an application for an authorization 5
under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 6
717b) or a certificate of public convenience and ne-7
cessity, the Commission shall identify any Federal or 8
State agency, local government, or Indian Tribe 9
that— 10
(A) may issue a Federal authorization with 11
respect to the application; or 12
(B) is required by Federal law to consult 13
with the Commission in conjunction with the 14
issuance of an authorization under section 3 of 15
that Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) or a Federal author-16
ization required for the certificate of public con-17
venience and necessity. 18
(2) I
NVITATION.— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days 20
after receiving an application for an authoriza-21
tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 22
U.S.C. 717b) or a certificate of public conven-23
ience and necessity, the Commission shall invite 24
any agency identified under paragraph (1) to 25
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participate in the review process for the applica-1
ble Federal authorization. 2
(B) D
EADLINE.—An invitation issued 3
under subparagraph (A) shall establish a dead-4
line by which a response to the invitation shall 5
be submitted to the Commission, which may be 6
extended by the Commission for good cause. 7
(3) D
ESIGNATION AS PARTICIPATING AGEN -8
CIES.—Not later than 60 days after the Commission 9
receives an application for an authorization under 10
section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) 11
or a certificate of public convenience and necessity, 12
the Commission shall designate an agency identified 13
under paragraph (1) as a participating agency with 14
respect to an application for an authorization under 15
section 3 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) or a certifi-16
cate of public convenience and necessity unless the 17
agency informs the Commission, in writing, by the 18
deadline established pursuant to paragraph (2)(B), 19
that the agency— 20
(A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 21
respect to the applicable Federal authorization; 22
(B) has no special expertise or information 23
relevant to any project-related NEPA review; or 24
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(C) does not intend to submit comments 1
for the record for the project-related NEPA re-2
view conducted by the Commission. 3
(4) E
FFECT OF NON-DESIGNATION.— 4
(A) E
FFECT ON AGENCY .—Any agency 5
that is not designated as a participating agency 6
under paragraph (3) with respect to an applica-7
tion for an authorization under section 3 of the 8
Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) or a certifi-9
cate of public convenience and necessity may 10
not request or conduct a NEPA review that is 11
supplemental to the project-related NEPA re-12
view conducted by the Commission, unless the 13
agency— 14
(i) demonstrates that such review is 15
legally necessary for the agency to carry 16
out responsibilities in considering an as-17
pect of an application for a Federal au-18
thorization; and 19
(ii) requires information that could 20
not have been obtained during the project- 21
related NEPA review conducted by the 22
Commission. 23
(B) C
OMMENTS; RECORD.—The Commis-24
sion shall not, with respect to an agency that is 25
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not designated as a participating agency under 1
paragraph (3) with respect to an application for 2
an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 3
Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) or a certificate of 4
public convenience and necessity— 5
(i) consider any comments or other in-6
formation submitted by the agency for the 7
project-related NEPA review conducted by 8
the Commission; or 9
(ii) include any such comments or 10
other information in the record for the 11
project-related NEPA review. 12
(e) S
CHEDULE.— 13
(1) D
EADLINE FOR FEDERAL AUTHORIZA -14
TIONS.—The deadline for a Federal authorization 15
required with respect to an application for an au-16
thorization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act 17
(15 U.S.C. 717b) or a certificate of public conven-18
ience and necessity set by the Commission under 19
section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 20
717n(c)(1)) shall be not later than 90 days after the 21
date on which the Commission completes the appli-22
cable project-related NEPA review, unless an appli-23
cable schedule is otherwise established by Federal 24
law. 25
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(2) CONCURRENT REVIEWS .—Each Federal and 1
State agency— 2
(A) that may consider an application for a 3
Federal authorization required with respect to 4
an application for an authorization under sec-5
tion 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) 6
or a certificate of public convenience and neces-7
sity shall formulate and implement a plan for 8
administrative, policy, and procedural mecha-9
nisms to enable the agency to ensure completion 10
of Federal authorizations in compliance with 11
the schedule established by the Commission 12
under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act 13
(15 U.S.C. 717n(c)(1)); and 14
(B) in considering an aspect of an applica-15
tion for a Federal authorization required with 16
respect to an application for an authorization 17
under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 18
U.S.C. 717b) or a certificate of public conven-19
ience and necessity, shall— 20
(i) develop and implement a plan to 21
enable the agency to comply with the 22
schedule; 23
(ii) carry out the obligations of the 24
agency under applicable law concurrently, 25
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and in conjunction with, the project-related 1
NEPA review conducted by the Commis-2
sion, and in compliance with the schedule; 3
(iii) transmit to the Commission a 4
statement— 5
(I) acknowledging receipt of the 6
schedule; and 7
(II) describing the plan developed 8
under clause (i); and 9
(iv) not less frequently than once 10
every 90 days, transmit to the Commission 11
a report describing the progress made in 12
considering the application for a Federal 13
authorization. 14
(3) F
AILURE TO MEET DEADLINE .— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a Federal or State 16
agency, including the Commission, fails to meet 17
a deadline for a Federal authorization required 18
in the applicable schedule established by the 19
Commission under section 15(c)(1) of the Nat-20
ural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717n(c)(1)), not later 21
than 5 days after the deadline, the head of the 22
relevant Federal agency (including, in the case 23
of a failure by a State agency, the Federal 24
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agency overseeing the delegated authority) 1
shall— 2
(i) notify Congress and the Commis-3
sion of the failure; and 4
(ii) include in that notification a de-5
scription of the recommended implementa-6
tion plan to ensure completion of the ac-7
tion to which the deadline applied, unless 8
the Commission deems the requirement to 9
complete the action has been waived. 10
(B) R
EQUIREMENT.—In cases in which a 11
requirement has not been waived under clause 12
(ii) of subparagraph (A), not later than 5 days 13
after the date on which the Commission receives 14
the notification under that subparagraph, the 15
Commission shall— 16
(i) accept the recommended implemen-17
tation plan; or 18
(ii) if the Commission does not accept 19
the recommended implementation plan, es-20
tablish a revised schedule for completion of 21
the action and notify the head of the rel-22
evant Federal agency. 23
(f) C
ONSIDERATION OFAPPLICATIONS FORFEDERAL 24
A
UTHORIZATION.— 25
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(1) ISSUE IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLU -1
TION.— 2
(A) I
DENTIFICATION.—Federal and State 3
agencies that may consider an aspect of an ap-4
plication for a Federal authorization shall iden-5
tify, as early as practicable, any issues of con-6
cern that may delay or prevent an agency 7
from— 8
(i) working with the Commission to 9
resolve the issues; and 10
(ii) granting the Federal authoriza-11
tion. 12
(B) I
SSUE RESOLUTION.—The Commission 13
may forward any issue of concern identified 14
under subparagraph (A) to the heads of the rel-15
evant agencies (including, in the case of an 16
issue of concern that is a failure by a State 17
agency, the Federal agency overseeing the dele-18
gated authority, if applicable) for resolution. 19
(2) R
EMOTE SURVEYS.— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a Federal or State 21
agency considering an aspect of an application 22
for a Federal authorization requires the person 23
applying for the Federal authorization to sub-24
mit data, subject to subparagraph (B), the 25
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agency shall consider any data gathered by aer-1
ial or other remote means that the person sub-2
mits. 3
(B) C
ONSIDERATION.—Aerial or remote 4
survey data shall be considered under subpara-5
graph (A) in cases in which property access is 6
not permitted or available and therefore onsite 7
inspection is not possible at the time of the ap-8
plication review. 9
(C) C
ONDITIONAL APPROVAL .—If appro-10
priate and necessary for compliance with the 11
mandate of the agency, a Federal or State 12
agency may condition approval for a Federal 13
authorization based in part on data gathered by 14
aerial or remote means on the verification of 15
the data by subsequent onsite inspection. 16
(3) A
PPLICATION PROCESSING .—The Commis-17
sion, and Federal and State agencies, may allow a 18
person applying for a Federal authorization to fund 19
a third-party contractor to assist in reviewing the 20
application for the Federal authorization. 21
(g) A
CCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EFFI-22
CIENCY.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—For an application for an 24
authorization under section 3 of the Natural Gas 25
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Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) or a certificate of public con-1
venience and necessity that requires multiple Fed-2
eral authorizations, the Commission, with input from 3
any Federal or State agency considering an aspect 4
of the application, shall track and make available to 5
the public on the website of the Commission infor-6
mation relating to the actions required to complete 7
the Federal authorizations. 8
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—Information tracked and in-9
cluded under paragraph (1) shall include the fol-10
lowing: 11
(A) The schedule established by the Com-12
mission under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural 13
Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717n(c)(1)). 14
(B) A list of all the actions required by 15
each applicable agency to complete permitting, 16
reviews, and other actions necessary to obtain a 17
final decision on the application. 18
(C) The expected completion date for each 19
action. 20
(D) A point of contact at the agency re-21
sponsible for each action. 22
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(E) In the event that an action is still 1
pending as of the expected date of completion, 2
a brief explanation of the reasons for the delay. 3
Æ
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