LNG Now Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1155 To terminate the prohibitions on the exportation and importation of natural gas, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 11, 2019 Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Natural Resources A BILL To terminate the prohibitions on the exportation and importation of natural gas, 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 ‘‘License Natural Gas 4 Now Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘LNG Now Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) the exportation of natural gas produced in 8 the United States is in the interest of the United 9 States; and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1155.IS S1155 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1155 IS (2) because natural gas produced in the United 1 States has a lower greenhouse gas emissions profile 2 than other energy sources used in high volumes in 3 other countries, the exportation of natural gas from 4 the United States may help lower global emissions of 5 carbon dioxide. 6 SEC. 3. EXPORTATION OR IMPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act 8 (15 U.S.C. 717b) is amended— 9 (1) by striking the section heading and all that 10 follows through ‘‘(a) After’’ and inserting the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘SEC. 3. EXPORTATION OR IMPORTATION OF NATURAL 13 GAS; LNG TERMINALS. 14 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION TO EXPORT OR IMPORT NAT- 15 URAL GAS.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—After’’; 17 (2) in subsection (a)— 18 (A) in paragraph (1) (as so designated)— 19 (i) in the second sentence, by striking 20 ‘‘, unless,’’ and all that follows through the 21 period at the end of the sentence and in- 22 serting ‘‘without modification or delay.’’; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1155.IS S1155 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1155 IS (ii) in the third sentence, by striking 1 ‘‘by its order’’ and all that follows through 2 the period at the end of the sentence and 3 inserting ‘‘condition the order on a require- 4 ment that the applicant, on request, pro- 5 vide relevant data to the Commission to fa- 6 cilitate the information collection and sta- 7 tistical activities of the Commission.’’; and 8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITIONS.— 10 ‘‘(A) PROHIBITION ON RESTRICTING NAT- 11 URAL GAS IMPORTATION OR EXPORTATION.— 12 Except as provided in paragraph (1) and sub- 13 paragraph (C) or in any Federal authorization 14 to export natural gas from the United States to 15 a foreign country or to import natural gas into 16 the United States from a foreign country in ef- 17 fect on the date of enactment of the LNG Now 18 Act of 2019, to promote the efficient explo- 19 ration, production, storage, supply, marketing, 20 pricing, and regulation of energy resources, in- 21 cluding fossil fuels, no employee of the Federal 22 Government shall impose or enforce any restric- 23 tion or condition on— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1155.IS S1155 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1155 IS ‘‘(i) the exportation of natural gas 1 from the United States to a foreign coun- 2 try; or 3 ‘‘(ii) the importation of natural gas 4 into the United States from a foreign 5 country. 6 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF IMPORTED NATURAL 7 GAS.—The Commission shall not treat, on the 8 basis of national origin, any imported natural 9 gas on an unjust, unreasonable, unduly dis- 10 criminatory, or preferential basis. 11 ‘‘(C) PROHIBITION ON IMPORT FROM OR 12 EXPORT TO CERTAIN NATIONS.—The export of 13 natural gas to, or the import of natural gas 14 from, a nation subject to sanctions imposed by 15 the United States is prohibited. 16 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION OF EXPORTED NATURAL 17 GAS AS A FIRST SALE.—The exportation of natural 18 gas to a foreign country from the United States 19 shall be considered to be a first sale (as defined in 20 section 2 of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (15 21 U.S.C. 3301)).’’; 22 (3) by striking subsections (b) and (c); and 23 (4) by redesignating subsections (d) through (f) 24 as subsections (b) through (d), respectively. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1155.IS S1155 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1155 IS (b) EFFECT.—The amendments made by subsection 1 (a) shall not affect any Federal authorization to export 2 natural gas from the United States to a foreign country 3 or to import natural gas into the United States from a 4 foreign country in effect on the date of enactment of this 5 Act. 6 SEC. 4. REPORT ON FOSTERING NATURAL GAS EXPORTS. 7 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 8 of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to Con- 9 gress a report describing actions taken by the United 10 States Government, and actions that could be taken by 11 the United States Government, to foster the exportation 12 of natural gas from the United States to foreign countries. 13 SEC. 5. REPORT ON EXISTING REGULATIONS. 14 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 15 of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to Con- 16 gress a report that identifies regulations in effect as of 17 such date of enactment that inhibit the growth of the mar- 18 ket for natural gas exported from the United States. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:39 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1155.IS S1155 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS