I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3301 

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 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North American En3 ergy Infrastructure Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDING. 

5 Congress finds that the United States should estab6 lish a more uniform, transparent, and modern process for 

7 the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance 

8 of oil and natural gas pipelines and electric transmission 

9 facilities for the import and export of oil, natural gas, and 

10 electricity to and from Canada and Mexico, in pursuit of 

11 a more secure and efficient North American energy mar12 ket. 

13 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF CERTAIN ENERGY INFRA14 STRUCTURE PROJECTS AT THE NATIONAL 

15 BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

16 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Except as provided in sub17 sections (d) and (e), no person may construct, connect, 

18 operate, or maintain an oil or natural gas pipeline or elec19 tric transmission facility at the national boundary of the 

20 United States for the import or export of oil, natural gas, 

21 or electricity to or from Canada or Mexico without obtain22 ing approval of the construction, connection, operation, or 

23 maintenance under this section. 

24 (b) APPROVAL.— 

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

26 after receiving a request for approval of construcVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:19 Oct 23, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3301.IH H3301

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1 tion, connection, operation, or maintenance under 

2 this section, the relevant official identified under 

3 paragraph (2), in consultation with appropriate Fed4 eral agencies, shall approve the request unless the 

5 relevant official finds that the construction, connec6 tion, operation, or maintenance is not in the national 

7 security interests of the United States. 

8 (2) RELEVANT OFFICIAL.—The relevant official 

9 referred to in paragraph (1) is— 

10 (A) the Secretary of Commerce with re11 spect to oil pipelines; 

12 (B) the Federal Energy Regulatory Com13 mission with respect to natural gas pipelines; 

14 and 

15 (C) the Secretary of Energy with respect 

16 to electric transmission facilities. 

17 (3) APPROVAL NOT MAJOR FEDERAL ACTION.— 

18 An approval of construction, connection, operation, 

19 or maintenance under paragraph (1) shall not be 

20 construed to constitute a major Federal action for 

21 purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act 

22 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 

23 (4) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR ELECTRIC

24 TRANSMISSION FACILITIES.—In the case of a request 

25 for approval of the construction, connection, operVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:19 Oct 23, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3301.IH H3301

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1 ation, or maintenance of an electric transmission fa2 cility, the Secretary of Energy shall require, as a 

3 condition of approval of the request under paragraph 

4 (1), that the electric transmission facility be con5 structed, connected, operated, or maintained con6 sistent with all applicable policies and standards 

7 of— 

8 (A) the Electric Reliability Organization 

9 and the applicable regional entity; and 

10 (B) any Regional Transmission Organiza11 tion or Independent System Operator with 

12 operational or functional control over the elec13 tric transmission facility. 

14 (c) NO OTHER APPROVAL REQUIRED.—No Presi15 dential permit (or similar permit) required under Execu16 tive Order 13337 (3 U.S.C. 301 note), Executive Order 

17 11423 (3 U.S.C. 301 note), section 301 of title 3, United 

18 States Code, Executive Order 12038, Executive Order 

19 10485, or any other Executive Order shall be necessary 

20 for construction, connection, operation, or maintenance to 

21 which this section applies. 

22 (d) EXCLUSIONS.—This section shall not apply to 

23 any construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of 

24 an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission facil25 ity at the national boundary of the United States for the 


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1 import or export of oil, natural gas, or electricity to or 

2 from Canada or Mexico— 

3 (1) if the pipeline or facility is operating at 

4 such national boundary for such import or export as 

5 of the date of enactment of this Act; 

6 (2) if a permit described in subsection (c) for 

7 such construction, connection, operation, or mainte8 nance has been issued; 

9 (3) if approval of such construction, connection, 

10 operation, or maintenance has previously been ob11 tained under this section; or 

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

13 subsection (c) for such construction, connection, op14 eration, or maintenance is pending on the date of 

15 enactment of this Act, until the earlier of— 

16 (A) the date on which such application is 

17 denied; or 

18 (B) July 1, 2016. 

19 (e) MODIFICATIONS TO EXISTING PROJECTS.—No 

20 approval under this section, or permit described in sub21 section (c), shall be required for modifications to construc22 tion, connection, operation, or maintenance described in 

23 paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection (d), including re24 versal of flow direction, change in ownership, volume ex25 pansion, downstream or upstream interconnection, or adVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:19 Oct 23, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3301.IH H3301

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1 justments to maintain flow (such as a reduction or in2 crease in the number of pump or compressor stations). 

3 (f) EFFECT OF OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this sec4 tion shall affect the application of any other Federal stat5 ute to a project for which approval of construction, con6 nection, operation, or maintenance is sought under this 

7 section. 

8 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

9 (1) 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 (2) the term ‘‘oil’’ means petroleum or a petro13 leum product; 

14 (3) the terms ‘‘Electric Reliability Organiza15 tion’’ and ‘‘regional entity’’ have the meanings given 

16 those terms in section 215 of the Federal Power Act 

17 (16 U.S.C. 824o); and 

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

19 and ‘‘Regional Transmission Organization’’ have the 

20 meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Fed21 eral Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

22 SEC. 4. IMPORTATION OR EXPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS 

23 TO CANADA AND MEXICO. 

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

25 717b(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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

2 the export or import of any natural gas to or from Canada 

3 or Mexico.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY TO CANADA 

5 AND MEXICO. 

6 (a) REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO SECURE

7 ORDER.—Section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act (16 

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

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

10 (1) STATE REGULATIONS.—Section 202(f) of 

11 the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(f)) is 

12 amended by striking ‘‘insofar as such State regula13 tion does not conflict with the exercise of the Com14 mission’s powers under or relating to subsection 

15 202(e)’’. 

16 (2) SEASONAL DIVERSITY ELECTRICITY EX17 CHANGE.—Section 602(b) of the Public Utility Reg18 ulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a–4(b)) 

19 is amended by striking ‘‘the Commission has con20 ducted hearings and made the findings required 

21 under section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act’’ and 

22 all that follows through the period at the end and 

23 inserting ‘‘the Secretary has conducted hearings and 

24 finds that the proposed transmission facilities would 

25 not impair the sufficiency of electric supply within 


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1 the United States or would not impede or tend to 

2 impede the coordination in the public interest of fa3 cilities subject to the jurisdiction of the Secretary.’’. 

4 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE; RULEMAKING DEADLINES. 

5 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Sections 3, 4, and 5, and the 

6 amendments made by such sections, shall take effect on 

7 July 1, 2015. 

8 (b) RULEMAKING DEADLINES.—Each relevant offi9 cial described in section 3(b)(2) shall— 

10 (1) not later than 180 days after the date of 

11 enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal Reg12 ister notice of a proposed rulemaking to carry out 

13 the applicable requirements of section 3; and 

14 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en15 actment of this Act, publish in the Federal Register 

16 a final rule to carry out the applicable requirements 

17 of section 3. 

Æ 


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