Mountain Valley Pipeline Completion Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3500 To expedite completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2023 Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. MOONEY, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, and Mr. MEUSER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Com- mittees on Natural Resources, and Agriculture, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To expedite completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, 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 ‘‘Mountain Valley Pipe- 4 line Completion Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3500.IH H3500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3500 IH SEC. 2. EXPEDITING COMPLETION OF THE MOUNTAIN VAL- 1 LEY PIPELINE. 2 (a) DEFINITION OF MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE.— 3 In this section, the term ‘‘Mountain Valley Pipeline’’ 4 means the Mountain Valley Pipeline project, as generally 5 described and approved in Federal Energy Regulatory 6 Commission Docket Nos. CP16–10, CP19–477, and 7 CP21–57. 8 (b) CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARA- 9 TION.—The Congress hereby finds and declares that the 10 timely completion of construction and operation of the 11 Mountain Valley Pipeline is required in the national inter- 12 est. The Mountain Valley Pipeline will serve demonstrated 13 natural gas demand in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and 14 Southeast regions, will increase the reliability of natural 15 gas supplies and the availability of natural gas at reason- 16 able prices, will allow natural gas producers to access addi- 17 tional markets for their product, and will reduce carbon 18 emissions and facilitate the energy transition. 19 (c) APPROVAL AND RATIFICATION OF EXISTING AU- 20 THORIZATIONS.—Congress hereby ratifies and approves 21 all authorizations, permits, verifications, extensions, bio- 22 logical opinions, incidental take statements, and any other 23 approvals or orders issued pursuant to Federal law related 24 to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3500.IH H3500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3500 IH (d) EXPEDITED APPROVAL.—Notwithstanding any 1 other provision of law, not later than 21 days after the 2 date of enactment of this Act and for the purpose of facili- 3 tating the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline— 4 (1) the Secretary of the Army shall issue all 5 permits or verifications necessary— 6 (A) to complete the construction of the 7 Mountain Valley Pipeline across the waters of 8 the United States; and 9 (B) to allow for the operation and mainte- 10 nance of the Mountain Valley Pipeline; 11 (2) the Secretary of Agriculture shall amend 12 the Land and Resource Management Plan for the 13 Jefferson National Forest in a manner that is sub- 14 stantively identical to the record of decision with re- 15 spect to the Mountain Valley Pipeline issued on Jan- 16 uary 11, 2021, as may be modified by a subse- 17 quently issued record of decision following the Sup- 18 plemental Environmental Impact Statement issued 19 on April 13, 2023; and 20 (3) the Secretary of the Interior shall grant and 21 maintain all necessary rights-of-way and temporary 22 use permits in a manner that is substantively iden- 23 tical to those rights-of-way and temporary use per- 24 mits approved with respect to the Mountain Valley 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3500.IH H3500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3500 IH Pipeline issued on January 14, 2021, or as may be 1 modified by any subsequently issued rights-of-way 2 and temporary use permits. 3 (e) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 4 (1) No action taken by the Secretary of the 5 Army, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 6 the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the In- 7 terior, or a State administrative agency acting pur- 8 suant to Federal law that grants an authorization, 9 permit, verification, biological opinion, incidental 10 take statement, or any other approval related to the 11 Mountain Valley Pipeline, including the issuance of 12 any authorization, permit, extension, verification, bi- 13 ological opinion, incidental take statement, or other 14 approval described in subsection (c) or (d) of this 15 section for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, whether 16 issued prior to or subsequent to the date of enact- 17 ment of this section shall be subject to judicial re- 18 view, and any lawsuit (including any lawsuit pending 19 in a court as of the date of enactment of this sec- 20 tion) seeking judicial review of such an agency order 21 or action shall not be filed or maintained in any 22 court and shall be promptly dismissed. 23 (2) The United States Court of Appeals for the 24 District of Columbia Circuit shall have original and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3500.IH H3500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3500 IH exclusive jurisdiction over any claim alleging the in- 1 validity of this section or that an action is beyond 2 the scope of authority conferred by this section. 3 (f) EFFECT.—This section supersedes any other pro- 4 vision of law (including any other section of this Act or 5 other statute, any regulation, any judicial decision, or any 6 agency guidance) that is inconsistent with the issuance of 7 any authorization, permit, verification, biological opinion, 8 incidental take statement, or other approval for the Moun- 9 tain Valley Pipeline. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3500.IH H3500 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB