Landowners’ Right to Due Process in Rehearings at FERC Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6982 To amend the Natural Gas Act with respect to the rehearing process, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2020 Mr. MALINOWSKI (for himself, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, and Mr. CASTEN of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Natural Gas Act with respect to the rehearing process, 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 ‘‘Landowners’ Right to 4 Due Process in Rehearings at FERC Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATURAL GAS ACT REHEARINGS. 6 Section 19(a) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 7 717r(a)) is amended to read as follows: 8 ‘‘(a) REHEARINGS.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6982.IH H6982 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6982 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person, State, munici- 1 pality, or State commission aggrieved by an order 2 issued by the Commission in a proceeding under this 3 Act to which such person, State, municipality, or 4 State commission is a party may apply for a rehear- 5 ing within 30 days after the issuance of such order. 6 The application for rehearing shall set forth specifi- 7 cally the ground or grounds upon which such appli- 8 cation is based. Upon such application the Commis- 9 sion shall have power to grant or deny rehearing or 10 to abrogate or modify its order without further hear- 11 ing. No proceeding to review any order of the Com- 12 mission shall be brought by any person unless such 13 person shall have made application to the Commis- 14 sion for a rehearing thereon. Until the record in a 15 proceeding shall have been filed in a court of ap- 16 peals, as provided in subsection (b), the Commission 17 may at any time, upon reasonable notice and in such 18 manner as it shall deem proper, modify or set aside, 19 in whole or in part, any finding or order made or 20 issued by it under the provisions of this Act. 21 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 23 subparagraph (B), the Commission shall act on 24 the merits of an application filed under para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6982.IH H6982 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6982 IH graph (1) by the date that is 90 days after the 1 date on which the applicable order is issued. 2 ‘‘(B) LACK OF QUORUM.—If the Commis- 3 sion fails to act on the merits of an application 4 filed under paragraph (1) by the date that is 90 5 days after the date on which the applicable 6 order is issued because the Commission lacks a 7 quorum on such date, the Commission shall act 8 on the merits of the application by the date 9 that is 30 days after the date on which the 10 Commission establishes a quorum. 11 ‘‘(C) FAILURE TO ACT.—If the Commis- 12 sion fails to act on the merits of an application 13 filed under paragraph (1) by the applicable 14 deadline under subparagraph (A) or (B), the 15 application shall be deemed to be denied. 16 ‘‘(3) CERTAIN ORDERS.— 17 ‘‘(A) PROHIBITION.—With respect to an 18 order issued under section 3 or 7, during the 19 covered period— 20 ‘‘(i) the Commission may not author- 21 ize any construction-related activity that is 22 related to the order; and 23 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding section 7(h), a 24 holder of a certificate of public convenience 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6982.IH H6982 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6982 IH and necessity that is the subject of the 1 order may not exercise the right of emi- 2 nent domain to acquire land or other prop- 3 erty to carry out an activity authorized by 4 the order. 5 ‘‘(B) COVERED PERIOD.—For purposes of 6 subparagraph (A), the term ‘covered period’ 7 means the period that begins on the date on 8 which the applicable order is issued and ends— 9 ‘‘(i) on the date that is 30 days after 10 such date, if no application for rehearing 11 with respect to the order is filed under 12 paragraph (1) by such date; or 13 ‘‘(ii) if such an application is so filed, 14 on the date on which the Commission act 15 on the merits of the application, or the ap- 16 plication is deemed to be denied, as appli- 17 cable.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Jun 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6982.IH H6982 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS