II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1274
To prohibit the export of liquefied natural gas and petroleum products to
certain countries.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL3, 2025
Mr. M
ERKLEY(for himself, Mr. REED, and Mr. KING) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Bank-
ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To prohibit the export of liquefied natural gas and petroleum
products to certain countries.
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 ‘‘Protecting American 4
Households From Rising Energy Costs Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) P
ETROLEUM PRODUCT .—The term ‘‘petro-8
leum product’’ has the meaning given the term in 9
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:13 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1274.IS S1274
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 1274 IS
section 3 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act 1
(42 U.S.C. 6202). 2
(2) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3
the Secretary of Energy. 4
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON EXPORTS OF LIQUEFIED NAT-5
URAL GAS AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS TO 6
CERTAIN COUNTRIES. 7
(a) P
ROHIBITIONS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 9
provision of law, unless a waiver has been issued 10
under subsection (b), no person or entity may export 11
or resell, either directly or indirectly through 1 or 12
more third parties, liquefied natural gas or petro-13
leum products— 14
(A) to any entity operating in the territory 15
of, or territory owned by, the People’s Republic 16
of China (or the Chinese Communist Party), 17
the Russian Federation, the Democratic Peo-18
ple’s Republic of Korea, or the Islamic Republic 19
of Iran; or 20
(B) to any entity that is under the owner-21
ship or control, as determined by the Secretary 22
in consultation with the Secretary of the Treas-23
ury and the Secretary of Commerce, of the Peo-24
ple’s Republic of China (or the Chinese Com-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:13 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1274.IS S1274
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 1274 IS
munist Party), the Russian Federation, the 1
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or the 2
Islamic Republic of Iran. 3
(2) R
ESPONSIBILITY.—It is the responsibility of 4
the export authorization holder to ensure compliance 5
with this Act and any other applicable law or policy, 6
including rules, regulations, orders, and other deter-7
minations made by— 8
(A) the Office of Foreign Assets Control of 9
the Department of the Treasury; and 10
(B) the Federal Energy Regulatory Com-11
mission. 12
(b) W
AIVER.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—On application by an ex-14
porter, the Secretary may waive, prior to the date of 15
the applicable contract, the prohibitions described in 16
subsection (a) with respect to the sale of liquefied 17
natural gas or petroleum products. 18
(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may issue a 19
waiver under this subsection only if the Secretary 20
determines that an imminent and acute national se-21
curity emergency to the United States exists and 22
that other means of responding to the emergency 23
would be inadequate. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:13 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1274.IS S1274
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 1274 IS
(3) APPLICATIONS.—An exporter seeking a 1
waiver under this subsection shall submit to the Sec-2
retary an application by such date, in such form, 3
and containing such information as the Secretary 4
may require. 5
(4) N
OTICE TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 15 6
days after issuing a waiver under this subsection, 7
the Secretary shall provide a copy of the waiver to 8
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 9
the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com-10
merce of the House of Representatives. 11
(c) R
ULEMAKING.—The Secretary may promulgate, 12
amend, and rescind rules and regulations, as the Secretary 13
determines to be appropriate, to carry out this Act. 14
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS. 15
(a) U
NLAWFULACTS.—It shall be unlawful for a per-16
son to violate, attempt to violate, conspire to violate, or 17
cause a violation of any prohibition of, or any waiver, li-18
cense, order, or regulation issued pursuant to this Act. 19
(b) C
IVILPENALTY.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may impose a 21
civil penalty on any person who commits an unlawful 22
act described in subsection (a) in an amount not to 23
exceed the greater of— 24
(A) $250,000,000; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:13 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1274.IS S1274
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•S 1274 IS
(B) an amount that is twice the amount of 1
the transaction that is the basis of the violation 2
with respect to which the penalty is imposed. 3
(2) N
OTICE AND OPPORTUNITY FOR HEAR -4
ING.—A civil penalty under paragraph (1) may be 5
imposed by the Secretary by an order made on the 6
record after providing written notice to the person to 7
be assessed the civil penalty and an opportunity for 8
a hearing in accordance with this section and sec-9
tions 554 through 557 of title 5, United States 10
Code. 11
(3) C
IVIL ACTION.—If a person described in 12
paragraph (1) fails to pay a civil penalty imposed by 13
the Secretary under this subsection after receiving 14
notice and an opportunity for a hearing under para-15
graph (2), the Secretary may bring a civil action 16
against that person in an appropriate district court 17
of the United States. 18
(4) R
ELIEF.—If a civil action brought by the 19
Secretary under paragraph (3) is successful, the ap-20
plicable court may grant appropriate relief, includ-21
ing— 22
(A) a temporary injunction; 23
(B) a permanent injunction; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:13 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1274.IS S1274
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•S 1274 IS
(C) enforcing the civil penalties described 1
in paragraph (1). 2
(c) C
RIMINALPENALTY.—A person who knowingly 3
commits, knowingly attempts to commit, or knowingly 4
conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the commission 5
of, an unlawful act described in subsection (a) shall be 6
fined not more than $100,000,000, imprisoned for not 7
more than 20 years, or both. 8
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:13 Apr 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1274.IS S1274
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB