IB 

Union Calendar No. 358 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3301 

[Report No. 113–482, Part I] 

To require approval for the construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of oil or natural gas pipelines or electric transmission facilities 

at the national boundary of the United States for the import or export 

of oil, natural gas, or electricity to or from Canada or Mexico, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 22, 2013 

Mr. UPTON (for himself, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. BARTON, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. COSTA, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. 

GALLEGO, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. MATHESON, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, 

Mr. PETERSON, Mr. POMPEO, Mr. TERRY, Mr. VELA, and Mr. WHITFIELD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Natural Resources, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

JUNE 19, 2014 

Additional sponsors: Mr. LATTA, Mr. CASSIDY, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. 

BILIRAKIS, and Mr. WALBERG

JUNE 19, 2014 

Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

JUNE 19, 2014 

The Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Natural Resources 

discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State 

of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on October 22, 2013] 


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A BILL 

To require approval for the construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of oil or natural gas pipelines 

or electric transmission facilities at the national boundary of the United States for the import or export of 

oil, natural gas, or electricity to or from Canada or 

Mexico, and for other purposes. 


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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 Energy 

5 Infrastructure Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING. 

7 Congress finds that the United States should establish 

8 a more uniform, transparent, and modern process for the 

9 construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of oil 

10 and natural gas pipelines and electric transmission facili11 ties for the import and export of oil and natural gas and 

12 the transmission of electricity to and from Canada and 

13 Mexico, in pursuit of a more secure and efficient North 

14 American energy market. 

15 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF CERTAIN ENERGY INFRA16 STRUCTURE PROJECTS AT THE NATIONAL 

17 BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

18 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Except as provided in sub19 section (c) and section 7, no person may construct, connect, 

20 operate, or maintain a cross-border segment of an oil pipe21 line or electric transmission facility for the import or export 

22 of oil or the transmission of electricity to or from Canada 

23 or Mexico without obtaining a certificate of crossing for the 

24 construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of the 

25 cross-border segment under this section. 


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1 (b) CERTIFICATE OF CROSSING.— 

2 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 120 days 

3 after final action is taken under the National Envi4 ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 

5 with respect to a cross-border segment for which a re6 quest is received under this section, the relevant offi7 cial identified under paragraph (2), in consultation 

8 with appropriate Federal agencies, shall issue a cer9 tificate of crossing for the cross-border segment unless 

10 the relevant official finds that the construction, con11 nection, operation, or maintenance of the cross-border 

12 segment is not in the public interest of the United 

13 States. 

14 (2) RELEVANT OFFICIAL.—The relevant official 

15 referred to in paragraph (1) is— 

16 (A) the Secretary of State with respect to oil 

17 pipelines; and 

18 (B) the Secretary of Energy with respect to 

19 electric transmission facilities. 

20 (3) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR ELECTRIC

21 TRANSMISSION FACILITIES.—In the case of a request 

22 for a certificate of crossing for the construction, con23 nection, operation, or maintenance of a cross-border 

24 segment of an electric transmission facility, the Sec25 retary of Energy shall require, as a condition of 


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1 issuing the certificate of crossing for the request under 

2 paragraph (1), that the cross-border segment of the 

3 electric transmission facility be constructed, con4 nected, operated, or maintained consistent with all 

5 applicable policies and standards of— 

6 (A) the Electric Reliability Organization 

7 and the applicable regional entity; and 

8 (B) any Regional Transmission Organiza9 tion or Independent System Operator with oper10 ational or functional control over the cross-bor11 der segment of the electric transmission facility. 

12 (c) EXCLUSIONS.—This section shall not apply to any 

13 construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of a 

14 cross-border segment of an oil pipeline or electric trans15 mission facility for the import or export of oil or the trans16 mission of electricity to or from Canada or Mexico— 

17 (1) if the cross-border segment is operating for 

18 such import, export, or transmission as of the date of 

19 enactment of this Act; 

20 (2) if a permit described in section 6 for such 

21 construction, connection, operation, or maintenance 

22 has been issued; 

23 (3) if a certificate of crossing for such construc24 tion, connection, operation, or maintenance has pre25 viously been issued under this section; or 


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1 (4) if an application for a permit described in 

2 section 6 for such construction, connection, operation, 

3 or maintenance is pending on the date of enactment 

4 of this Act, until the earlier of— 

5 (A) the date on which such application is 

6 denied; or 

7 (B) July 1, 2016. 

8 (d) EFFECT OF OTHER LAWS.— 

9 (1) APPLICATION TO PROJECTS.—Nothing in this 

10 section or section 7 shall affect the application of any 

11 other Federal statute to a project for which a certifi12 cate of crossing for the construction, connection, oper13 ation, or maintenance of a cross-border segment is 

14 sought under this section. 

15 (2) NATURAL GAS ACT.—Nothing in this section 

16 or section 7 shall affect the requirement to obtain ap17 proval or authorization under sections 3 and 7 of the 

18 Natural Gas Act for the siting, construction, or oper19 ation of any facility to import or export natural gas. 

20 (3) ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION ACT.— 

21 Nothing in this section or section 7 shall affect the 

22 authority of the President under section 103(a) of the 

23 Energy Policy and Conservation Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. IMPORTATION OR EXPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS 

2 TO CANADA AND MEXICO. 

3 Section 3(c) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 

4 717b(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘No order is required under subsection (a) to authorize the 

6 export or import of any natural gas to or from Canada 

7 or Mexico.’’. 

8 SEC. 5. TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY TO CANADA 

9 AND MEXICO. 

10 (a) REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO SECURE ORDER.— 

11 Section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(e)) 

12 is repealed. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

14 (1) STATE REGULATIONS.—Section 202(f) of the 

15 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(f)) is amended by 

16 striking ‘‘insofar as such State regulation does not 

17 conflict with the exercise of the Commission’s powers 

18 under or relating to subsection 202(e)’’. 

19 (2) SEASONAL DIVERSITY ELECTRICITY EX20 CHANGE.—Section 602(b) of the Public Utility Regu21 latory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a–4(b)) is 

22 amended by striking ‘‘the Commission has conducted 

23 hearings and made the findings required under sec24 tion 202(e) of the Federal Power Act’’ and all that 

25 follows through the period at the end and inserting 

26 ‘‘the Secretary has conducted hearings and finds that 


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1 the proposed transmission facilities would not impair 

2 the sufficiency of electric supply within the United 

3 States or would not impede or tend to impede the co4 ordination in the public interest of facilities subject to 

5 the jurisdiction of the Secretary.’’. 

6 SEC. 6. NO PRESIDENTIAL PERMIT REQUIRED. 

7 No Presidential permit (or similar permit) required 

8 under Executive Order 13337 (3 U.S.C. 301 note), Execu9 tive Order 11423 (3 U.S.C. 301 note), section 301 of title 

10 3, United States Code, Executive Order 12038, Executive 

11 Order 10485, or any other Executive Order shall be nec12 essary for the construction, connection, operation, or main13 tenance of an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric trans14 mission facility, or any cross-border segment thereof. 

15 SEC. 7. MODIFICATIONS TO EXISTING PROJECTS. 

16 No certificate of crossing under section 3, or permit 

17 described in section 6, shall be required for a modification 

18 to the construction, connection, operation, or maintenance 

19 of an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission 

20 facility— 

21 (1) that is operating for the import or export of 

22 oil or natural gas or the transmission of electricity to 

23 or from Canada or Mexico as of the date of enactment 

24 of the Act; 


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1 (2) for which a permit described in section 6 for 

2 such construction, connection, operation, or mainte3 nance has been issued; or 

4 (3) for which a certificate of crossing for the 

5 cross-border segment of the pipeline or facility has 

6 previously been issued under section 3. 

7 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE; RULEMAKING DEADLINES. 

8 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Sections 3 through 7, and the 

9 amendments made by such sections, shall take effect on July 

10 1, 2015. 

11 (b) RULEMAKING DEADLINES.—Each relevant official 

12 described in section 3(b)(2) shall— 

13 (1) not later than 180 days after the date of en14 actment of this Act, publish in the Federal Register 

15 notice of a proposed rulemaking to carry out the ap16 plicable requirements of section 3; and 

17 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of enact18 ment of this Act, publish in the Federal Register a 

19 final rule to carry out the applicable requirements of 

20 section 3. 

21 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act— 

23 (1) the term ‘‘cross-border segment’’ means the 

24 portion of an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 

25 transmission facility that is located at the national 


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1 boundary of the United States with either Canada or 

2 Mexico; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘modification’’ includes a reversal 

4 of flow direction, change in ownership, volume expan5 sion, downstream or upstream interconnection, or ad6 justment to maintain flow (such as a reduction or in7 crease in the number of pump or compressor sta8 tions); 

9 (3) the term ‘‘natural gas’’ has the meaning 

10 given that term in section 2 of the Natural Gas Act 

11 (15 U.S.C. 717a); 

12 (4) the term ‘‘oil’’ means petroleum or a petro13 leum product; 

14 (5) the terms ‘‘Electric Reliability Organization’’ 

15 and ‘‘regional entity’’ have the meanings given those 

16 terms in section 215 of the Federal Power Act (16 

17 U.S.C. 824o); and 

18 (6) the terms ‘‘Independent System Operator’’ 

19 and ‘‘Regional Transmission Organization’’ have the 

20 meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Federal 

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


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Union Calendar No. 358 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3301 

[Report No. 113–482, Part I] 

A BILL 

To require approval for the construction, connecother purposes. tricity to or from Canada or Mexico, and for the import or export of oil, natural gas, or elec- the national boundary of the United States for gas pipelines or electric transmission facilities at tion, operation, or maintenance of oil or natural 

JUNE 19, 2014 

Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

with an amendment 

JUNE 19, 2014 

The Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure 

Union and ordered to be printed Committee of the Whole House on the State of the and Natural Resources discharged; committed to the 


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