II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 989 

To establish a more uniform, transparent, and modern process to authorize 

the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of international 

border-crossing facilities for the import and export of oil and natural 

gas and the transmission of electricity. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 27, 2023 

Mr. HOEVEN (for himself, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. SULLIVAN, and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish a more uniform, transparent, and modern process to authorize the construction, connection, operation, 

and maintenance of international border-crossing facilities for the import and export of oil and natural gas 

and the transmission of electricity. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North American En5 ergy Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPROVAL FOR BORDER-CROSSING FACILITIES. 

2 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF CERTAIN ENERGY INFRA3 STRUCTURE PROJECTS AT AN INTERNATIONAL BOUND4 ARY OF THE UNITED STATES.— 

5 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—Except as provided in 

6 paragraph (3) and subsection (e), no person may 

7 construct, connect, or operate, a border-crossing fa8 cility for the import or export of oil or natural gas, 

9 or the transmission of electricity, across an inter10 national border of the United States without obtain11 ing a certificate of crossing for the border-crossing 

12 facility under this subsection. 

13 (2) CERTIFICATE OF CROSSING.— 

14 (A) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 

15 days after final action is taken, by the relevant 

16 official or agency identified under subparagraph 

17 (B), under the National Environmental Policy 

18 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with re19 spect to a border-crossing facility for which a 

20 person requests a certificate of crossing under 

21 this subsection, the relevant official or agency, 

22 in consultation with appropriate Federal agen23 cies, shall issue a certificate of crossing for the 

24 border-crossing facility unless the relevant offi25 cial or agency finds that the construction, con26 nection, or operation, of the border-crossing faVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S989.IS S989

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1 cility is not in the public interest of the United 

2 States. 

3 (B) RELEVANT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY.— 

4 The relevant official or agency referred to in 

5 subparagraph (A) is— 

6 (i) the Federal Energy Regulatory 

7 Commission with respect to border-cross8 ing facilities consisting of oil or natural 

9 gas pipelines; and 

10 (ii) the Secretary of Energy with re11 spect to border-crossing facilities consisting 

12 of electric transmission facilities. 

13 (C) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR

14 ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION FACILITIES.—In the 

15 case of a request for a certificate of crossing for 

16 a border-crossing facility consisting of an elec17 tric transmission facility, the Secretary of En18 ergy shall require, as a condition of issuing the 

19 certificate of crossing under subparagraph (A), 

20 that the border-crossing facility be constructed, 

21 connected, operated, or maintained consistent 

22 with all applicable policies and standards of— 

23 (i) the Electric Reliability Organiza24 tion and the applicable regional entity; and 


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1 (ii) any Regional Transmission Orga2 nization or Independent System Operator 

3 with operational or functional control over 

4 the border-crossing facility. 

5 (3) EXCLUSIONS.—This subsection shall not 

6 apply to any construction, connection, operation, or 

7 maintenance of a border-crossing facility for the im8 port or export of oil or natural gas, or the trans9 mission of electricity— 

10 (A) if the border-crossing facility is oper11 ating for such import, export, or transmission 

12 as of the date of enactment of this Act; 

13 (B) if a permit described in subsection (d) 

14 for the construction, connection, operation, or 

15 maintenance has been issued; or 

16 (C) if an application for a permit described 

17 in subsection (d) for the construction, connec18 tion, operation, or maintenance is pending on 

19 the date of enactment of this Act, until the ear20 lier of— 

21 (i) the date on which such application 

22 is denied; or 

23 (ii) 2 years after the date of enact24 ment of this Act, if such a permit has not 

25 been issued by such date. 


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1 (4) EFFECT OF OTHER LAWS.— 

2 (A) APPLICATION TO PROJECTS.—Nothing 

3 in this subsection or subsection (e) shall affect 

4 the application of any other Federal statute to 

5 a project for which a certificate of crossing for 

6 a border-crossing facility is requested under 

7 this subsection. 

8 (B) NATURAL GAS ACT.—Nothing in this 

9 subsection or subsection (e) shall affect the re10 quirement to obtain approval or authorization 

11 under sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act 

12 (15 U.S.C. 717b, 717f) for the siting, construc13 tion, or operation of any facility to import or 

14 export natural gas. 

15 (C) OIL PIPELINES.—Nothing in this sub16 section or subsection (e) shall affect the author17 ity of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commis18 sion with respect to oil pipelines under section 

19 60502 of title 49, United States Code. 

20 (D) SCOPE OF NEPA REVIEW.—Nothing in 

21 this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, 

22 shall affect the scope of any review required to 

23 be conducted under section 102 of the National 

24 Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 

25 4332) with respect to a project for which a cerVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S989.IS S989

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1 tificate of crossing for a border-crossing facility 

2 is requested under this subsection. 

3 (b) IMPORTATION OR EXPORTATION OF NATURAL

4 GAS TO CANADA AND MEXICO.—Section 3(c) of the Nat5 ural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b(c)) is amended by adding 

6 at the end the following: ‘‘In the case of an application 

7 for the importation of natural gas from, or the exportation 

8 of natural gas to, Canada or Mexico, the Commission shall 

9 grant the application not later than 30 days after the date 

10 on which the Commission receives the complete applica11 tion.’’. 

12 (c) TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY TO CAN13 ADA AND MEXICO.— 

14 (1) REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO SECURE

15 ORDER.—Section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act 

16 (16 U.S.C. 824a(e)) is repealed. 

17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

18 (A) STATE REGULATIONS.—Section 202(f) 

19 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(f)) 

20 is amended by striking ‘‘insofar as such State 

21 regulation does not conflict with the exercise of 

22 the Commission’s powers under or relating to 

23 subsection (e)’’. 

24 (B) SEASONAL DIVERSITY ELECTRICITY

25 EXCHANGE.—Section 602(b) of the Public UtilVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S989.IS S989

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1 ity Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 

2 824a–4(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘the Com3 mission has conducted hearings and made the 

4 findings required under section 202(e) of the 

5 Federal Power Act’’ and all that follows 

6 through the period at the end and inserting 

7 ‘‘the Secretary has conducted hearings and 

8 finds that the proposed transmission facilities 

9 would not impair the sufficiency of electric sup10 ply within the United States or would not im11 pede or tend to impede the coordination in the 

12 public interest of facilities subject to the juris13 diction of the Secretary.’’. 

14 (d) NO PRESIDENTIAL PERMIT REQUIRED.—No 

15 Presidential permit (or similar permit) shall be required 

16 pursuant to any provision of law or Executive order for 

17 the construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of 

18 an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission facil19 ity, or any border-crossing facility thereof. 

20 (e) MODIFICATIONS TO AND MAINTENANCE OF EX21 ISTING PROJECTS.—No certificate of crossing under sub22 section (a), or permit described in subsection (d), shall be 

23 required for a modification to or maintenance of— 

24 (1) an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 

25 transmission facility that is operating for the import 


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1 or export of oil or natural gas or the transmission 

2 of electricity as of the date of enactment of this Act; 

3 (2) an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 

4 transmission facility for which a permit described in 

5 subsection (d) has been issued; or 

6 (3) a border-crossing facility for which a certifi7 cate of crossing has previously been issued under 

8 subsection (a). 

9 (f) EFFECTIVE DATES; RULEMAKING DEADLINES.— 

10 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsections (a) 

11 through (e) and the amendments made by such sub12 sections shall take effect on the date that is 1 year 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

14 (2) RULEMAKING DEADLINES.—Each relevant 

15 official or agency described in subsection (a)(2)(B) 

16 shall— 

17 (A) not later than 180 days after the date 

18 of enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal 

19 Register notice of a proposed rulemaking to 

20 carry out the applicable requirements of sub21 section (a); and 

22 (B) not later than 1 year after the date of 

23 enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal 

24 Register a final rule to carry out the applicable 

25 requirements of subsection (a). 


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1 (g) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any entity aggrieved by a 

2 final agency action taken under this section may obtain 

3 a review of such action by filing a petition for review in 

4 the United States Court of Appeals for any circuit wherein 

5 an applicant for authorization under this section is located 

6 or has its principal place of business, or in the United 

7 States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The 

8 petition must be filed not later than 60 days after such 

9 action is taken. 

10 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The 

12 term ‘‘appropriate Federal agencies’’ in subsection 

13 (a)(2)(A) means the Secretary of Defense, the Attor14 ney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Sec15 retary of Commerce, the Secretary of Transpor16 tation, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of 

17 Homeland Security, the Administrator of the Envi18 ronmental Protection Agency, and, for applications 

19 concerning the border with Mexico, the United 

20 States Commissioner of the International Boundary 

21 and Water Commission. 

22 (2) BORDER-CROSSING FACILITY.—The term 

23 ‘‘border-crossing facility’’ means— 

24 (A) the portion of an oil pipeline between 

25 an international boundary and the first mainVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S989.IS S989

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1 line valve on the United States side of an inter2 national boundary; and 

3 (B) the portion of a natural gas pipeline or 

4 electric transmission facility that is located at 

5 an international boundary of the United States. 

6 (3) ELECTRIC RELIABILITY ORGANIZATION; RE7 GIONAL ENTITY.—The terms ‘‘Electric Reliability 

8 Organization’’ and ‘‘regional entity’’ have the mean9 ings given those terms in section 215 of the Federal 

10 Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o). 

11 (4) INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR; RE12 GIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION.—The terms 

13 ‘‘Independent System Operator’’ and ‘‘Regional 

14 Transmission Organization’’ have the meanings 

15 given those terms in section 3 of the Federal Power 

16 Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

17 (5) MODIFICATION.—The term ‘‘modification’’ 

18 includes a reversal of flow direction, change in own19 ership, change in flow volume, change in product de20 livered, addition or removal of an interconnection, or 

21 an adjustment to regulate flow (such as a reduction 

22 or increase in the number of pump or compressor 

23 stations or valves). 


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1 (6) NATURAL GAS.—The term ‘‘natural gas’’ 

2 has the meaning given that term in section 2 of the 

3 Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717a). 

4 (7) OIL.—The term ‘‘oil’’ means petroleum or 

5 a petroleum product. 

Æ 


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