SAFER Pipelines Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2115 To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to apply certain proce- dures before granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed pipeline project, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 19, 2021 Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN (for herself, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to apply certain procedures before granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed pipe- line project, 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 ‘‘Safe and Accountable 4 Federal Energy Review for Pipelines Act of 2021’’ or the 5 ‘‘SAFER Pipelines Act of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2115.IH H2115 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2115 IH SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF NEW NATURAL GAS PIPELINES. 1 Section 7(e) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 2 717f(e)) is amended— 3 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Except in the 4 cases’’; and 5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(2) Before granting a certificate for a proposed 7 pipeline expansion project, the Commission shall— 8 ‘‘(A) conduct— 9 ‘‘(i) a full evidentiary hearing on any con- 10 tested issue of need for the expansion; or 11 ‘‘(ii) a cumulative review of major energy 12 infrastructure projects planned throughout the 13 region of the expansion, their purported pur- 14 pose and need, and their prospective impacts on 15 State and regional energy goals; and 16 ‘‘(B) consider— 17 ‘‘(i) the existence of underutilized or ineffi- 18 cient use of existing pipeline capacity; 19 ‘‘(ii) the effect of approval on existing cus- 20 tomers of other pipelines; 21 ‘‘(iii) an analysis of demonstrated regional 22 needs for the additional natural gas, including 23 consideration of the existence of precedent con- 24 tracts; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2115.IH H2115 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2115 IH ‘‘(iv) consistency with the State’s clean 1 power plan, State Implementation Plan, renew- 2 able energy goals, and renewable portfolio 3 standard; 4 ‘‘(v) the region’s ability to meet any defi- 5 ciency in energy needs through energy effi- 6 ciency, dual fuel sources, LNG storage, or other 7 economically viable and less environmentally 8 disruptive measures than pipeline infrastruc- 9 ture; and 10 ‘‘(vi) Federal renewable energy goals. 11 ‘‘(3) In the case of an interstate natural gas pipeline 12 project, for purposes of the due process requirements of 13 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 14 4321 et seq.), the Commission shall consider, in addition 15 to current requirements for environmental impact state- 16 ments, the cumulative impacts of other interstate natural 17 gas pipeline projects located within the same State, as well 18 as projects within 100 miles of the project, that are ap- 19 proved, filed with the Commission or, in the pre-filing 20 process— 21 ‘‘(A) for a 1-year period prior to the filing of 22 the project application with the Commission; and 23 ‘‘(B) before the issuance of the draft environ- 24 mental impact statement. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2115.IH H2115 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2115 IH ‘‘(4) The Commission shall require all approved and 1 constructed natural gas pipeline projects to undertake a 2 five-year monitoring program to confirm that the environ- 3 mental impacts identified in any environmental impact 4 statement or analysis conducted with respect to the project 5 have been mitigated.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2115.IH H2115 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS