II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1293 

To establish the Department of Energy as the lead agency for coordinating 

all requirements under Federal law with respect to eligible clean coal 

and advanced coal technology generating projects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 12, 2015 

Ms. HEITKAMP (for herself and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish the Department of Energy as the lead agency 

for coordinating all requirements under Federal law with 

respect to eligible clean coal and advanced coal technology generating projects, 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. COORDINATION OF CLEAN COAL AND AD4 VANCED COAL TECHNOLOGY GENERATING 

5 PROJECTS. 

6 (a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE PROJECT.—In this 

7 section, the term ‘‘eligible project’’ means— 


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1 (1) any project undertaken to install and oper2 ate an advanced carbon capture and storage tech3 nology or carbon capture utilization and storage 

4 technology at a new or existing steam generating 

5 unit; or 

6 (2) any project designed to increase the effi7 ciency of converting coal to useful energy or to a 

8 feedstock for the manufacture of other products. 

9 (b) LEAD AGENCY.—The Department of Energy 

10 shall be the lead agency for the purposes of coordinating 

11 all requirements under Federal law with respect to eligible 

12 projects, including any requirements of— 

13 (1) the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); 

14 (2) the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

15 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 

16 (3) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

17 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 

18 (4) the National Environmental Policy Act of 

19 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); and 

20 (5) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

21 300f et seq.). 

22 (c) SCHEDULE.—In carrying out subsection (b), the 

23 Secretary of Energy shall establish a schedule for all Fed24 eral authorizations with respect to each eligible project, 

25 including by— 


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1 (1) setting binding intermediate milestones and 

2 deadlines to ensure expeditious completion of all pro3 ceedings and final action on all Federal authoriza4 tions relating to the eligible project; 

5 (2) requiring that all permit decisions and re6 lated environmental reviews under applicable Federal 

7 law shall be completed not later than 1 year after 

8 the date on which a complete application for each 

9 environmental review is submitted, or as soon as 

10 practicable thereafter; and 

11 (3) coordinating, to the maximum extent prac12 ticable, any State permitting and environmental re13 quirements. 

14 (d) MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING.—To stream15 line and expedite review of Federal authorizations for eli16 gible projects, the Secretary of Energy shall— 

17 (1) enter into memoranda of understanding 

18 with applicable Federal agencies; 

19 (2) facilitate a pre-application review process 

20 with applicable Federal agencies; and 

21 (3) consolidate all environmental reviews of the 

22 eligible project into a single environmental review 

23 document. 

24 (e) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—With respect to an applica25 tion for Federal authorization relating to an eligible 


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1 project, the applicable Federal circuit court may review 

2 and remedy— 

3 (1) any failure by a Federal agency to complete 

4 action on the application by the date that is 1 year 

5 after the date on which the complete application was 

6 submitted to the agency; and 

7 (2) any issuance of an action or order by a 

8 Federal agency with respect to the application that 

9 is inconsistent with applicable Federal law. 

Æ 


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