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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1237 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1237

To amend the Natural Gas Act to limit the authority of the Secretary of 
 Energy to approve certain proposals relating to export activities of 
                    liquefied natural gas terminals.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 2015

   Mr. King introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Natural Gas Act to limit the authority of the Secretary of 
 Energy to approve certain proposals relating to export activities of 
                    liquefied natural gas terminals.

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

SECTION 1. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF ENERGY TO APPROVE 
              CERTAIN LNG TERMINAL PROPOSALS.

    Section 3(e) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b(e)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``(e)(1) The Commission'' and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(e) LNG Terminals.--
            ``(1) Authority of commission.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to paragraph (5), the 
                Commission'';
            (2) in paragraph (1), in the second sentence, by striking 
        ``Except as'' and inserting the following:
                    ``(B) No effect on other federal authority.--Except 
                as'';
            (3) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by indenting subparagraphs (A) through (D) 
                appropriately; and
                    (B) by striking ``(2) Upon'' and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(2) Hearing and determination.--On'';
            (4) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) by striking ``(3)(A) Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B)'' and inserting the following:
            ``(3) Action on approval.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B) and paragraph (5)'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (B)--
                            (i) in clause (ii), by indenting subclauses 
                        (I) through (III) appropriately;
                            (ii) by indenting clauses (i) and (ii) 
                        appropriately; and
                            (iii) by striking ``(B) Before'' and 
                        inserting the following:
                    ``(B) Requirements before 2015.--Before''; and
                    (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``(C) 
                Subparagraph (B)'' and inserting the following:
                    ``(C) Sunset.--Subparagraph (B)'';
            (5) in paragraph (4), by striking ``(4) An order'' and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(4) Protection of existing customers.--An order''; and
            (6) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Authority of secretary of energy over certain 
        proposals.--
                    ``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Additional export proposal.--The term 
                        `additional export proposal' means any proposal 
                        submitted to the Secretary by a new or existing 
                        LNG terminal--
                                    ``(I) to initiate the export of 
                                natural gas to a foreign country, with 
                                respect to an LNG terminal that does 
                                not so export natural gas as of the 
                                date of submission of the proposal; or
                                    ``(II) to increase the quantity of 
                                natural gas exported to a foreign 
                                country by the LNG terminal, with 
                                respect to an LNG terminal that exports 
                                natural gas as of the date of 
                                submission of the proposal.
                            ``(ii) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' 
                        means the Secretary of Energy, acting through 
                        the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy 
                        pursuant to sections 301(b) and 402(f) of the 
                        Department of Energy Organization Act (42 
                        U.S.C. 7151(b), 7172(f)).
                    ``(B) Limitation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Notwithstanding part 590 
                        of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (or 
                        successor regulations), or any other provision 
                        of law (including regulations), effective 
                        beginning on the date described in clause (ii), 
                        the Secretary may not take into consideration 
                        or approve any additional export proposal.
                            ``(ii) Description of date.--The date 
                        referred to in clause (i) is the date on which 
                        the Secretary determines that the total 
                        quantity of natural gas cumulatively exported 
                        by fully permitted LNG terminals is at least 
                        equal to 8 billion cubic feet per day.''.
                                 <all>
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