Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3983 To provide for Federal and State agency coordination in the approval of certain authorizations under the Natural Gas Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Mr. FLORES (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. MCKINLEY, and Mr. OLSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To provide for Federal and State agency coordination in the approval of certain authorizations under the Natural Gas Act, 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 Pipelines Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FERC PROCESS COORDINATION FOR NATURAL GAS 6 PIPELINE PROJECTS. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3983 IH (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 1 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 2 (2) FEDERAL AUTHORIZATION.—The term 3 ‘‘Federal authorization’’ has the meaning given that 4 term in section 15(a) of the Natural Gas Act (15 5 U.S.C. 717n(a)). 6 (3) NEPA REVIEW.—The term ‘‘NEPA review’’ 7 means the process of reviewing a proposed Federal 8 action under section 102 of the National Environ- 9 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 10 (4) PROJECT-RELATED NEPA REVIEW.—The 11 term ‘‘project-related NEPA review’’ means any 12 NEPA review required to be conducted with respect 13 to the issuance of an authorization under section 3 14 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con- 15 venience and necessity under section 7 of such Act. 16 (b) COMMISSION NEPA REVIEW RESPONSIBIL- 17 ITIES.—In acting as the lead agency under section 18 15(b)(1) of the Natural Gas Act for the purposes of com- 19 plying with the National Environmental Policy Act of 20 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to an author- 21 ization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certifi- 22 cate of public convenience and necessity under section 7 23 of such Act, the Commission shall, in accordance with this 24 section and other applicable Federal law— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3983 IH (1) be the only lead agency; 1 (2) coordinate as early as practicable with each 2 agency designated as a participating agency under 3 subsection (d)(3) to ensure that the Commission de- 4 velops information in conducting its project-related 5 NEPA review that is usable by the participating 6 agency in considering an aspect of an application for 7 a Federal authorization for which the agency is re- 8 sponsible; and 9 (3) take such actions as are necessary and 10 proper to facilitate the expeditious resolution of its 11 project-related NEPA review. 12 (c) DEFERENCE TO COMMISSION.—In making a deci- 13 sion with respect to a Federal authorization required with 14 respect to an application for authorization under section 15 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public conven- 16 ience and necessity under section 7 of such Act, each agen- 17 cy shall give deference, to the maximum extent authorized 18 by law, to the scope of the project-related NEPA review 19 that the Commission determines to be appropriate. 20 (d) PARTICIPATING AGENCIES.— 21 (1) IDENTIFICATION.—The Commission shall 22 identify, as early as practicable after it is notified by 23 a person applying for an authorization under section 24 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3983 IH convenience and necessity under section 7 of such 1 Act, any Federal or State agency, local government, 2 or Indian Tribe that may issue a Federal authoriza- 3 tion or is required by Federal law to consult with 4 the Commission in conjunction with the issuance of 5 a Federal authorization required for such authoriza- 6 tion or certificate. 7 (2) INVITATION.— 8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 9 invite any agency identified under paragraph 10 (1) to participate in the review process for the 11 applicable Federal authorization. 12 (B) DEADLINE.—An invitation issued 13 under subparagraph (A) shall establish a dead- 14 line by which a response to the invitation shall 15 be submitted to the Commission, which may be 16 extended by the Commission for good cause. 17 (3) DESIGNATION AS PARTICIPATING AGEN- 18 CIES.—The Commission shall designate an agency 19 identified under paragraph (1) as a participating 20 agency with respect to an application for authoriza- 21 tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 22 certificate of public convenience and necessity under 23 section 7 of such Act unless the agency informs the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3983 IH Commission, in writing, by the deadline established 1 pursuant to paragraph (2)(B), that the agency— 2 (A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 3 respect to the applicable Federal authorization; 4 (B) has no special expertise or information 5 relevant to any project-related NEPA review; or 6 (C) does not intend to submit comments 7 for the record for the project-related NEPA re- 8 view conducted by the Commission. 9 (4) EFFECT OF NON-DESIGNATION.— 10 (A) EFFECT ON AGENCY.—Any agency 11 that is not designated as a participating agency 12 under paragraph (3) with respect to an applica- 13 tion for an authorization under section 3 of the 14 Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con- 15 venience and necessity under section 7 of such 16 Act may not request or conduct a NEPA review 17 that is supplemental to the project-related 18 NEPA review conducted by the Commission, 19 unless the agency— 20 (i) demonstrates that such review is 21 legally necessary for the agency to carry 22 out responsibilities in considering an as- 23 pect of an application for a Federal au- 24 thorization; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3983 IH (ii) requires information that could 1 not have been obtained during the project- 2 related NEPA review conducted by the 3 Commission. 4 (B) COMMENTS; RECORD.—The Commis- 5 sion shall not, with respect to an agency that is 6 not designated as a participating agency under 7 paragraph (3) with respect to an application for 8 an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 9 Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 10 and necessity under section 7 of such Act— 11 (i) consider any comments or other in- 12 formation submitted by such agency for 13 the project-related NEPA review conducted 14 by the Commission; or 15 (ii) include any such comments or 16 other information in the record for such 17 project-related NEPA review. 18 (e) SCHEDULE.— 19 (1) DEADLINE FOR FEDERAL AUTHORIZA- 20 TIONS.—A deadline for a Federal authorization re- 21 quired with respect to an application for authoriza- 22 tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 23 certificate of public convenience and necessity under 24 section 7 of such Act set by the Commission under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3983 IH section 15(c)(1) of such Act shall be not later than 1 90 days after the Commission completes its project- 2 related NEPA review, unless an applicable schedule 3 is otherwise established by Federal law. 4 (2) CONCURRENT REVIEWS.—Each Federal and 5 State agency— 6 (A) that may consider an application for a 7 Federal authorization required with respect to 8 an application for authorization under section 3 9 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 10 convenience and necessity under section 7 of 11 such Act shall formulate and implement a plan 12 for administrative, policy, and procedural mech- 13 anisms to enable the agency to ensure comple- 14 tion of Federal authorizations in compliance 15 with schedules established by the Commission 16 under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; and 17 (B) in considering an aspect of an applica- 18 tion for a Federal authorization required with 19 respect to an application for authorization 20 under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 21 certificate of public convenience and necessity 22 under section 7 of such Act, shall— 23 (i) formulate and implement a plan to 24 enable the agency to comply with the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3983 IH schedule established by the Commission 1 under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; 2 (ii) carry out the obligations of that 3 agency under applicable law concurrently, 4 and in conjunction with, the project-related 5 NEPA review conducted by the Commis- 6 sion, and in compliance with the schedule 7 established by the Commission under sec- 8 tion 15(c)(1) of such Act, unless the agen- 9 cy notifies the Commission in writing that 10 doing so would impair the ability of the 11 agency to conduct needed analysis or oth- 12 erwise carry out such obligations; 13 (iii) transmit to the Commission a 14 statement— 15 (I) acknowledging receipt of the 16 schedule established by the Commis- 17 sion under section 15(c)(1) of the 18 Natural Gas Act; and 19 (II) setting forth the plan formu- 20 lated under clause (i) of this subpara- 21 graph; 22 (iv) not later than 30 days after the 23 agency receives such application for a Fed- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3983 IH eral authorization, transmit to the appli- 1 cant a notice— 2 (I) indicating whether such appli- 3 cation is ready for processing; and 4 (II) if such application is not 5 ready for processing, that includes a 6 comprehensive description of the in- 7 formation needed for the agency to 8 determine that the application is 9 ready for processing; 10 (v) determine that such application 11 for a Federal authorization is ready for 12 processing for purposes of clause (iv) if 13 such application is sufficiently complete for 14 the purposes of commencing consideration, 15 regardless of whether supplemental infor- 16 mation is necessary to enable the agency to 17 complete the consideration required by law 18 with respect to such application; and 19 (vi) not less often than once every 90 20 days, transmit to the Commission a report 21 describing the progress made in consid- 22 ering such application for a Federal au- 23 thorization. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 3983 IH (3) FAILURE TO MEET DEADLINE.—If a Fed- 1 eral or State agency, including the Commission, fails 2 to meet a deadline for a Federal authorization set 3 forth in the schedule established by the Commission 4 under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act, not 5 later than 5 days after such deadline, the head of 6 the relevant Federal agency (including, in the case 7 of a failure by a State agency, the Federal agency 8 overseeing the delegated authority) shall notify Con- 9 gress and the Commission of such failure and set 10 forth a recommended implementation plan to ensure 11 completion of the action to which such deadline ap- 12 plied. 13 (f) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS FOR FEDERAL 14 AUTHORIZATION.— 15 (1) ISSUE IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLU- 16 TION.— 17 (A) IDENTIFICATION.—Federal and State 18 agencies that may consider an aspect of an ap- 19 plication for a Federal authorization shall iden- 20 tify, as early as possible, any issues of concern 21 that may delay or prevent an agency from 22 working with the Commission to resolve such 23 issues and granting such authorization. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 3983 IH (B) ISSUE RESOLUTION.—The Commission 1 may forward any issue of concern identified 2 under subparagraph (A) to the heads of the rel- 3 evant agencies (including, in the case of an 4 issue of concern that is a failure by a State 5 agency, the Federal agency overseeing the dele- 6 gated authority, if applicable) for resolution. 7 (2) REMOTE SURVEYS.—If a Federal or State 8 agency considering an aspect of an application for a 9 Federal authorization requires the person applying 10 for such authorization to submit data, the agency 11 shall consider any such data gathered by aerial or 12 other remote means that the person submits. The 13 agency may grant a conditional approval for the 14 Federal authorization based on data gathered by 15 aerial or remote means, conditioned on the 16 verification of such data by subsequent onsite in- 17 spection. 18 (3) APPLICATION PROCESSING.—The Commis- 19 sion, and Federal and State agencies, may allow a 20 person applying for a Federal authorization to fund 21 a third-party contractor to assist in reviewing the 22 application for such authorization. 23 (g) ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EFFI- 24 CIENCY.—For an application for an authorization under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 3983 IH section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 1 convenience and necessity under section 7 of such Act that 2 requires multiple Federal authorizations, the Commission, 3 with input from any Federal or State agency considering 4 an aspect of the application, shall track and make avail- 5 able to the public on the Commission’s website information 6 related to the actions required to complete the Federal au- 7 thorizations. Such information shall include the following: 8 (1) The schedule established by the Commission 9 under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act. 10 (2) A list of all the actions required by each ap- 11 plicable agency to complete permitting, reviews, and 12 other actions necessary to obtain a final decision on 13 the application. 14 (3) The expected completion date for each such 15 action. 16 (4) A point of contact at the agency responsible 17 for each suc [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]