II 

Calendar No. 442 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3301 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2014 

Received; read the first time 

JUNE 26, 2014 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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


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1 SEC. 2. FINDING. 

2 Congress finds that the United States should estab3 lish a more uniform, transparent, and modern process for 

4 the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance 

5 of oil and natural gas pipelines and electric transmission 

6 facilities for the import and export of oil and natural gas 

7 and the transmission of electricity to and from Canada 

8 and Mexico, in pursuit of a more secure and efficient 

9 North American energy market. 

10 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF CERTAIN ENERGY INFRA11 STRUCTURE PROJECTS AT THE NATIONAL 

12 BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

13 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Except as provided in sub14 section (c) and section 7, no person may construct, con15 nect, operate, or maintain a cross-border segment of an 

16 oil pipeline or electric transmission facility for the import 

17 or export of oil or the transmission of electricity to or from 

18 Canada or Mexico without obtaining a certificate of cross19 ing for the construction, connection, operation, or mainte20 nance of the cross-border segment under this section. 

21 (b) CERTIFICATE OF CROSSING.— 

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

23 after final action is taken under the National Envi24 ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

25 seq.) with respect to a cross-border segment for 

26 which a request is received under this section, the 


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1 relevant official identified under paragraph (2), in 

2 consultation with appropriate Federal agencies, shall 

3 issue a certificate of crossing for the cross-border 

4 segment unless the relevant official finds that the 

5 construction, connection, operation, or maintenance 

6 of the cross-border segment is not in the public in7 terest of the United States. 

8 (2) RELEVANT OFFICIAL.—The relevant official 

9 referred to in paragraph (1) is— 

10 (A) the Secretary of State with respect to 

11 oil pipelines; and 

12 (B) the Secretary of Energy with respect 

13 to electric transmission facilities. 

14 (3) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR ELECTRIC

15 TRANSMISSION FACILITIES.—In the case of a request 

16 for a certificate of crossing for the construction, con17 nection, operation, or maintenance of a cross-border 

18 segment of an electric transmission facility, the Sec19 retary of Energy shall require, as a condition of 

20 issuing the certificate of crossing for the request 

21 under paragraph (1), that the cross-border segment 

22 of the electric transmission facility be constructed, 

23 connected, operated, or maintained consistent with 

24 all applicable policies and standards of— 


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1 (A) the Electric Reliability Organization 

2 and the applicable regional entity; and 

3 (B) any Regional Transmission Organiza4 tion or Independent System Operator with 

5 operational or functional control over the cross6 border segment of the electric transmission fa7 cility. 

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

9 construction, connection, operation, or maintenance of a 

10 cross-border segment of an oil pipeline or electric trans11 mission facility for the import or export of oil or the trans12 mission of electricity to or from Canada or Mexico— 

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

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

15 of enactment of this Act; 

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

17 construction, connection, operation, or maintenance 

18 has been issued; 

19 (3) if a certificate of crossing for such construc20 tion, connection, operation, or maintenance has pre21 viously been issued under this section; or 

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

23 section 6 for such construction, connection, oper24 ation, or maintenance is pending on the date of en25 actment of this Act, until the earlier of— 


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1 (A) the date on which such application is 

2 denied; or 

3 (B) July 1, 2016. 

4 (d) EFFECT OF OTHER LAWS.— 

5 (1) APPLICATION TO PROJECTS.—Nothing in 

6 this section or section 7 shall affect the application 

7 of any other Federal statute to a project for which 

8 a certificate of crossing for the construction, connec9 tion, operation, or maintenance of a cross-border 

10 segment is sought under this section. 

11 (2) NATURAL GAS ACT.—Nothing in this sec12 tion or section 7 shall affect the requirement to ob13 tain approval or authorization under sections 3 and 

14 7 of the Natural Gas Act for the siting, construc15 tion, or operation of any facility to import or export 

16 natural gas. 

17 (3) ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION

18 ACT.—Nothing in this section or section 7 shall af19 fect the authority of the President under section 

20 103(a) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. 

21 SEC. 4. IMPORTATION OR EXPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS 

22 TO CANADA AND MEXICO. 

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

24 717b(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

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


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

2 or Mexico.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY TO CANADA 

4 AND MEXICO. 

5 (a) REPEAL OF REQUIREMENT TO SECURE

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

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

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

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

11 amended by striking ‘‘insofar as such State regula12 tion does not conflict with the exercise of the Com13 mission’s powers under or relating to subsection 

14 202(e)’’. 

15 (2) SEASONAL DIVERSITY ELECTRICITY EX16 CHANGE.—Section 602(b) of the Public Utility Reg17 ulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a–4(b)) 

18 is amended by striking ‘‘the Commission has con19 ducted hearings and made the findings required 

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

21 all that follows through the period at the end and 

22 inserting ‘‘the Secretary has conducted hearings and 

23 finds that the proposed transmission facilities would 

24 not impair the sufficiency of electric supply within 

25 the United States or would not impede or tend to 


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1 impede the coordination in the public interest of fa2 cilities subject to the jurisdiction of the Secretary.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. NO PRESIDENTIAL PERMIT REQUIRED. 

4 No Presidential permit (or similar permit) required 

5 under Executive Order No. 13337 (3 U.S.C. 301 note), 

6 Executive Order No. 11423 (3 U.S.C. 301 note), section 

7 301 of title 3, United States Code, Executive Order No. 

8 12038, Executive Order No. 10485, or any other Execu9 tive order shall be necessary for the construction, connec10 tion, operation, or maintenance of an oil or natural gas 

11 pipeline or electric transmission facility, or any cross-bor12 der segment thereof. 

13 SEC. 7. MODIFICATIONS TO EXISTING PROJECTS. 

14 No certificate of crossing under section 3, or permit 

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

16 to the construction, connection, operation, or maintenance 

17 of an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission 

18 facility— 

19 (1) that is operating for the import or export 

20 of oil or natural gas or the transmission of elec21 tricity to or from Canada or Mexico as of the date 

22 of enactment of the Act; 

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

24 such construction, connection, operation, or mainte25 nance has been issued; or 


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

2 cross-border segment of the pipeline or facility has 

3 previously been issued under section 3. 

4 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE; RULEMAKING DEADLINES. 

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

6 the amendments made by such sections, shall take effect 

7 on 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. 

18 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act— 

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

21 portion of an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric 

22 transmission facility that is located at the national 

23 boundary of the United States with either Canada or 

24 Mexico; 


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

2 of flow direction, change in ownership, volume ex3 pansion, downstream or upstream interconnection, 

4 or adjustment to maintain flow (such as a reduction 

5 or increase in the number of pump or compressor 

6 stations); 

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

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

9 (15 U.S.C. 717a); 

10 (4) the term ‘‘oil’’ means petroleum or a petro11 leum product; 

12 (5) the terms ‘‘Electric Reliability Organiza13 tion’’ and ‘‘regional entity’’ have the meanings given 

14 those terms in section 215 of the Federal Power Act 

15 (16 U.S.C. 824o); and 

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

17 and ‘‘Regional Transmission Organization’’ have the 

18 meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Fed19 eral Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

Passed the House of Representatives June 24, 2014. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 442 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3301 

AN ACT 

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 26, 2014 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 


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