I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7401 

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 

JUNE 29, 2020 

Mr. FLORES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee 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. 

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 ‘‘Promoting Interagency 

5 Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPANDING ACCESS TO CLEAN ENERGY. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

9 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 


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1 (2) FEDERAL AUTHORIZATION.—The term 

2 ‘‘Federal authorization’’ has the meaning given that 

3 term in section 15(a) of the Natural Gas Act (15 

4 U.S.C. 717n(a)). 

5 (3) NEPA REVIEW.—The term ‘‘NEPA review’’ 

6 means the process of reviewing a proposed Federal 

7 action under section 102 of the National Environ8 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 

9 (4) PROJECT-RELATED NEPA REVIEW.—The 

10 term ‘‘project-related NEPA review’’ means any 

11 NEPA review required to be conducted with respect 

12 to the issuance of an authorization under section 3 

13 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con14 venience and necessity under section 7 of such Act. 

15 (b) COMMISSION NEPA REVIEW RESPONSIBIL16 ITIES.—In acting as the lead agency under section 

17 15(b)(1) of the Natural Gas Act for the purposes of com18 plying with the National Environmental Policy Act of 

19 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to an author20 ization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certifi21 cate of public convenience and necessity under section 7 

22 of such Act, the Commission shall, in accordance with this 

23 section and other applicable Federal law— 

24 (1) be the only lead agency; 


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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 de4 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 re8 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 deci13 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 conven16 ience and necessity under section 7 of such Act, each agen17 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 convenience and necessity under section 7 of such 


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1 Act, any Federal or State agency, local government, 

2 or Indian Tribe that may issue a Federal authoriza3 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 authoriza6 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 dead14 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 AGEN18 CIES.—The Commission shall designate an agency 

19 identified under paragraph (1) as a participating 

20 agency with respect to an application for authoriza21 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 Commission, in writing, by the deadline established 

25 pursuant to paragraph (2)(B), that the agency— 


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1 (A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 

2 respect to the applicable Federal authorization; 

3 (B) has no special expertise or information 

4 relevant to any project-related NEPA review; or 

5 (C) does not intend to submit comments 

6 for the record for the project-related NEPA re7 view conducted by the Commission. 

8 (4) EFFECT OF NON-DESIGNATION.— 

9 (A) EFFECT ON AGENCY.—Any agency 

10 that is not designated as a participating agency 

11 under paragraph (3) with respect to an applica12 tion for an authorization under section 3 of the 

13 Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con14 venience and necessity under section 7 of such 

15 Act may not request or conduct a NEPA review 

16 that is supplemental to the project-related 

17 NEPA review conducted by the Commission, 

18 unless the agency— 

19 (i) demonstrates that such review is 

20 legally necessary for the agency to carry 

21 out responsibilities in considering an as22 pect of an application for a Federal au23 thorization; and 

24 (ii) requires information that could 

25 not have been obtained during the projectVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7401.IH H7401

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1 related NEPA review conducted by the 

2 Commission. 

3 (B) COMMENTS; RECORD.—The Commis4 sion shall not, with respect to an agency that is 

5 not designated as a participating agency under 

6 paragraph (3) with respect to an application for 

7 an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 

8 Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 

9 and necessity under section 7 of such Act— 

10 (i) consider any comments or other in11 formation submitted by such agency for 

12 the project-related NEPA review conducted 

13 by the Commission; or 

14 (ii) include any such comments or 

15 other information in the record for such 

16 project-related NEPA review. 

17 (e) SCHEDULE.— 

18 (1) DEADLINE FOR FEDERAL AUTHORIZA19 TIONS.—A deadline for a Federal authorization re20 quired with respect to an application for authoriza21 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 set by the Commission under 

24 section 15(c)(1) of such Act shall be not later than 

25 90 days after the Commission completes its projectVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7401.IH H7401

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1 related NEPA review, unless an applicable schedule 

2 is otherwise established by Federal law. 

3 (2) CONCURRENT REVIEWS.—Each Federal and 

4 State agency— 

5 (A) that may consider an application for a 

6 Federal authorization required with respect to 

7 an application for authorization under section 3 

8 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 

9 convenience and necessity under section 7 of 

10 such Act shall formulate and implement a plan 

11 for administrative, policy, and procedural mech12 anisms to enable the agency to ensure comple13 tion of Federal authorizations in compliance 

14 with schedules established by the Commission 

15 under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; and 

16 (B) in considering an aspect of an applica17 tion for a Federal authorization required with 

18 respect to an application for authorization 

19 under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 

20 certificate of public convenience and necessity 

21 under section 7 of such Act, shall— 

22 (i) formulate and implement a plan to 

23 enable the agency to comply with the 

24 schedule established by the Commission 

25 under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; 


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1 (ii) carry out the obligations of that 

2 agency under applicable law concurrently, 

3 and in conjunction with, the project-related 

4 NEPA review conducted by the Commis5 sion, and in compliance with the schedule 

6 established by the Commission under sec7 tion 15(c)(1) of such Act, unless the agen8 cy notifies the Commission in writing that 

9 doing so would impair the ability of the 

10 agency to conduct needed analysis or oth11 erwise carry out such obligations; 

12 (iii) transmit to the Commission a 

13 statement— 

14 (I) acknowledging receipt of the 

15 schedule established by the Commis16 sion under section 15(c)(1) of the 

17 Natural Gas Act; and 

18 (II) setting forth the plan formu19 lated under clause (i) of this subpara20 graph; 

21 (iv) not later than 30 days after the 

22 agency receives such application for a Fed23 eral authorization, transmit to the appli24 cant a notice— 


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1 (I) indicating whether such appli2 cation is ready for processing; and 

3 (II) if such application is not 

4 ready for processing, that includes a 

5 comprehensive description of the in6 formation needed for the agency to 

7 determine that the application is 

8 ready for processing; 

9 (v) determine that such application 

10 for a Federal authorization is ready for 

11 processing for purposes of clause (iv) if 

12 such application is sufficiently complete for 

13 the purposes of commencing consideration, 

14 regardless of whether supplemental infor15 mation is necessary to enable the agency to 

16 complete the consideration required by law 

17 with respect to such application; and 

18 (vi) not less often than once every 90 

19 days, transmit to the Commission a report 

20 describing the progress made in consid21 ering such application for a Federal au22 thorization. 

23 (3) FAILURE TO MEET DEADLINE.—If a Fed24 eral or State agency, including the Commission, fails 

25 to meet a deadline for a Federal authorization set 


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1 forth in the schedule established by the Commission 

2 under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act, not 

3 later than 5 days after such deadline, the head of 

4 the relevant Federal agency (including, in the case 

5 of a failure by a State agency, the Federal agency 

6 overseeing the delegated authority) shall notify Con7 gress and the Commission of such failure and set 

8 forth a recommended implementation plan to ensure 

9 completion of the action to which such deadline ap10 plied. Not later than 5 days after such notification, 

11 the Commission shall either accept the Federal 

12 agency’s recommended implementation plan, or if 

13 the Commission does not accept the Federal agen14 cy’s recommendation, establish a revised schedule for 

15 completion of the action and notify the head of the 

16 relevant Federal agency. 

17 (f) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS FOR FEDERAL

18 AUTHORIZATION.— 

19 (1) ISSUE IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLU20 TION.— 

21 (A) IDENTIFICATION.—Federal and State 

22 agencies that may consider an aspect of an ap23 plication for a Federal authorization shall iden24 tify, as early as possible, any issues of concern 

25 that may delay or prevent an agency from 


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1 working with the Commission to resolve such 

2 issues and granting such authorization. 

3 (B) ISSUE RESOLUTION.—The Commission 

4 may forward any issue of concern identified 

5 under subparagraph (A) to the heads of the rel6 evant agencies (including, in the case of an 

7 issue of concern that is a failure by a State 

8 agency, the Federal agency overseeing the dele9 gated authority, if applicable) for resolution. 

10 (2) REMOTE SURVEYS.—If a Federal or State 

11 agency considering an aspect of an application for a 

12 Federal authorization requires the person applying 

13 for such authorization to submit data, the agency 

14 shall consider any such data gathered by aerial or 

15 other remote means that the person submits. Such 

16 aerial or remote survey data shall be considered 

17 where property access is not permitted or available 

18 and therefore onsite inspection is not possible at the 

19 time of the application review. The agency may 

20 grant a conditional approval for the Federal author21 ization based in part on data gathered by aerial or 

22 remote means, and if appropriate and necessary for 

23 compliance with the agency’s mandate, conditioned 

24 on the verification of such data by subsequent onsite 

25 inspection. 


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1 (3) APPLICATION PROCESSING.—The Commis2 sion, and Federal and State agencies, may allow a 

3 person applying for a Federal authorization to fund 

4 a third-party contractor to assist in reviewing the 

5 application for such authorization. 

6 (g) ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EFFI7 CIENCY.—For an application for an authorization under 

8 section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 

9 convenience and necessity under section 7 of such Act that 

10 requires multiple Federal authorizations, the Commission, 

11 with input from any Federal or State agency considering 

12 an aspect of the application, shall track and make avail13 able to the public on the Commission’s website information 

14 related to the actions required to complete the Federal au15 thorizations. Such information shall include the following: 

16 (1) The schedule established by the Commission 

17 under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act. 

18 (2) A list of all the actions required by each ap19 plicable agency to complete permitting, reviews, and 

20 other actions necessary to obtain a final decision on 

21 the application. 

22 (3) The expected completion date for each such 

23 action. 

24 (4) A point of contact at the agency responsible 

25 for each such action. 


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1 (5) In the event that an action is still pending 

2 as of the expected date of completion, a brief expla3 nation of the reasons for the delay. 

Æ 


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