I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3983 

To provide for Federal and State agency coordination in the approval of 

certain authorizations under the Natural Gas Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2019 

Mr. FLORES (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. MCKINLEY, and Mr. 

OLSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide for Federal and State agency coordination in 

the approval of certain authorizations under the Natural 

Gas Act, 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 ‘‘Promoting Interagency 

5 Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FERC PROCESS COORDINATION FOR NATURAL GAS 

7 PIPELINE PROJECTS. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

2 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 

3 (2) FEDERAL AUTHORIZATION.—The term 

4 ‘‘Federal authorization’’ has the meaning given that 

5 term in section 15(a) of the Natural Gas Act (15 

6 U.S.C. 717n(a)). 

7 (3) NEPA REVIEW.—The term ‘‘NEPA review’’ 

8 means the process of reviewing a proposed Federal 

9 action under section 102 of the National Environ10 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332). 

11 (4) PROJECT-RELATED NEPA REVIEW.—The 

12 term ‘‘project-related NEPA review’’ means any 

13 NEPA review required to be conducted with respect 

14 to the issuance of an authorization under section 3 

15 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con16 venience and necessity under section 7 of such Act. 

17 (b) COMMISSION NEPA REVIEW RESPONSIBIL18 ITIES.—In acting as the lead agency under section 

19 15(b)(1) of the Natural Gas Act for the purposes of com20 plying with the National Environmental Policy Act of 

21 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to an author22 ization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certifi23 cate of public convenience and necessity under section 7 

24 of such Act, the Commission shall, in accordance with this 

25 section and other applicable Federal law— 


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1 (1) be the only lead agency; 

2 (2) coordinate as early as practicable with each 

3 agency designated as a participating agency under 

4 subsection (d)(3) to ensure that the Commission de5 velops information in conducting its project-related 

6 NEPA review that is usable by the participating 

7 agency in considering an aspect of an application for 

8 a Federal authorization for which the agency is re9 sponsible; and 

10 (3) take such actions as are necessary and 

11 proper to facilitate the expeditious resolution of its 

12 project-related NEPA review. 

13 (c) DEFERENCE TO COMMISSION.—In making a deci14 sion with respect to a Federal authorization required with 

15 respect to an application for authorization under section 

16 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public conven17 ience and necessity under section 7 of such Act, each agen18 cy shall give deference, to the maximum extent authorized 

19 by law, to the scope of the project-related NEPA review 

20 that the Commission determines to be appropriate. 

21 (d) PARTICIPATING AGENCIES.— 

22 (1) IDENTIFICATION.—The Commission shall 

23 identify, as early as practicable after it is notified by 

24 a person applying for an authorization under section 

25 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 


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1 convenience and necessity under section 7 of such 

2 Act, any Federal or State agency, local government, 

3 or Indian Tribe that may issue a Federal authoriza4 tion or is required by Federal law to consult with 

5 the Commission in conjunction with the issuance of 

6 a Federal authorization required for such authoriza7 tion or certificate. 

8 (2) INVITATION.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

10 invite any agency identified under paragraph 

11 (1) to participate in the review process for the 

12 applicable Federal authorization. 

13 (B) DEADLINE.—An invitation issued 

14 under subparagraph (A) shall establish a dead15 line by which a response to the invitation shall 

16 be submitted to the Commission, which may be 

17 extended by the Commission for good cause. 

18 (3) DESIGNATION AS PARTICIPATING AGEN19 CIES.—The Commission shall designate an agency 

20 identified under paragraph (1) as a participating 

21 agency with respect to an application for authoriza22 tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 

23 certificate of public convenience and necessity under 

24 section 7 of such Act unless the agency informs the 


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1 Commission, in writing, by the deadline established 

2 pursuant to paragraph (2)(B), that the agency— 

3 (A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 

4 respect to the applicable Federal authorization; 

5 (B) has no special expertise or information 

6 relevant to any project-related NEPA review; or 

7 (C) does not intend to submit comments 

8 for the record for the project-related NEPA re9 view conducted by the Commission. 

10 (4) EFFECT OF NON-DESIGNATION.— 

11 (A) EFFECT ON AGENCY.—Any agency 

12 that is not designated as a participating agency 

13 under paragraph (3) with respect to an applica14 tion for an authorization under section 3 of the 

15 Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public con16 venience and necessity under section 7 of such 

17 Act may not request or conduct a NEPA review 

18 that is supplemental to the project-related 

19 NEPA review conducted by the Commission, 

20 unless the agency— 

21 (i) demonstrates that such review is 

22 legally necessary for the agency to carry 

23 out responsibilities in considering an as24 pect of an application for a Federal au25 thorization; and 


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1 (ii) requires information that could 

2 not have been obtained during the project3 related NEPA review conducted by the 

4 Commission. 

5 (B) COMMENTS; RECORD.—The Commis6 sion shall not, with respect to an agency that is 

7 not designated as a participating agency under 

8 paragraph (3) with respect to an application for 

9 an authorization under section 3 of the Natural 

10 Gas Act or a certificate of public convenience 

11 and necessity under section 7 of such Act— 

12 (i) consider any comments or other in13 formation submitted by such agency for 

14 the project-related NEPA review conducted 

15 by the Commission; or 

16 (ii) include any such comments or 

17 other information in the record for such 

18 project-related NEPA review. 

19 (e) SCHEDULE.— 

20 (1) DEADLINE FOR FEDERAL AUTHORIZA21 TIONS.—A deadline for a Federal authorization re22 quired with respect to an application for authoriza23 tion under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 

24 certificate of public convenience and necessity under 

25 section 7 of such Act set by the Commission under 


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1 section 15(c)(1) of such Act shall be not later than 

2 90 days after the Commission completes its project3 related NEPA review, unless an applicable schedule 

4 is otherwise established by Federal law. 

5 (2) CONCURRENT REVIEWS.—Each Federal and 

6 State agency— 

7 (A) that may consider an application for a 

8 Federal authorization required with respect to 

9 an application for authorization under section 3 

10 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 

11 convenience and necessity under section 7 of 

12 such Act shall formulate and implement a plan 

13 for administrative, policy, and procedural mech14 anisms to enable the agency to ensure comple15 tion of Federal authorizations in compliance 

16 with schedules established by the Commission 

17 under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; and 

18 (B) in considering an aspect of an applica19 tion for a Federal authorization required with 

20 respect to an application for authorization 

21 under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a 

22 certificate of public convenience and necessity 

23 under section 7 of such Act, shall— 

24 (i) formulate and implement a plan to 

25 enable the agency to comply with the 


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1 schedule established by the Commission 

2 under section 15(c)(1) of such Act; 

3 (ii) carry out the obligations of that 

4 agency under applicable law concurrently, 

5 and in conjunction with, the project-related 

6 NEPA review conducted by the Commis7 sion, and in compliance with the schedule 

8 established by the Commission under sec9 tion 15(c)(1) of such Act, unless the agen10 cy notifies the Commission in writing that 

11 doing so would impair the ability of the 

12 agency to conduct needed analysis or oth13 erwise carry out such obligations; 

14 (iii) transmit to the Commission a 

15 statement— 

16 (I) acknowledging receipt of the 

17 schedule established by the Commis18 sion under section 15(c)(1) of the 

19 Natural Gas Act; and 

20 (II) setting forth the plan formu21 lated under clause (i) of this subpara22 graph; 

23 (iv) not later than 30 days after the 

24 agency receives such application for a FedVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983

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1 eral authorization, transmit to the appli2 cant a notice— 

3 (I) indicating whether such appli4 cation is ready for processing; and 

5 (II) if such application is not 

6 ready for processing, that includes a 

7 comprehensive description of the in8 formation needed for the agency to 

9 determine that the application is 

10 ready for processing; 

11 (v) determine that such application 

12 for a Federal authorization is ready for 

13 processing for purposes of clause (iv) if 

14 such application is sufficiently complete for 

15 the purposes of commencing consideration, 

16 regardless of whether supplemental infor17 mation is necessary to enable the agency to 

18 complete the consideration required by law 

19 with respect to such application; and 

20 (vi) not less often than once every 90 

21 days, transmit to the Commission a report 

22 describing the progress made in consid23 ering such application for a Federal au24 thorization. 


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1 (3) FAILURE TO MEET DEADLINE.—If a Fed2 eral or State agency, including the Commission, fails 

3 to meet a deadline for a Federal authorization set 

4 forth in the schedule established by the Commission 

5 under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act, not 

6 later than 5 days after such deadline, the head of 

7 the relevant Federal agency (including, in the case 

8 of a failure by a State agency, the Federal agency 

9 overseeing the delegated authority) shall notify Con10 gress and the Commission of such failure and set 

11 forth a recommended implementation plan to ensure 

12 completion of the action to which such deadline ap13 plied. 

14 (f) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS FOR FEDERAL

15 AUTHORIZATION.— 

16 (1) ISSUE IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLU17 TION.— 

18 (A) IDENTIFICATION.—Federal and State 

19 agencies that may consider an aspect of an ap20 plication for a Federal authorization shall iden21 tify, as early as possible, any issues of concern 

22 that may delay or prevent an agency from 

23 working with the Commission to resolve such 

24 issues and granting such authorization. 


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1 (B) ISSUE RESOLUTION.—The Commission 

2 may forward any issue of concern identified 

3 under subparagraph (A) to the heads of the rel4 evant agencies (including, in the case of an 

5 issue of concern that is a failure by a State 

6 agency, the Federal agency overseeing the dele7 gated authority, if applicable) for resolution. 

8 (2) REMOTE SURVEYS.—If a Federal or State 

9 agency considering an aspect of an application for a 

10 Federal authorization requires the person applying 

11 for such authorization to submit data, the agency 

12 shall consider any such data gathered by aerial or 

13 other remote means that the person submits. The 

14 agency may grant a conditional approval for the 

15 Federal authorization based on data gathered by 

16 aerial or remote means, conditioned on the 

17 verification of such data by subsequent onsite in18 spection. 

19 (3) APPLICATION PROCESSING.—The Commis20 sion, and Federal and State agencies, may allow a 

21 person applying for a Federal authorization to fund 

22 a third-party contractor to assist in reviewing the 

23 application for such authorization. 

24 (g) ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EFFI25 CIENCY.—For an application for an authorization under 


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1 section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate of public 

2 convenience and necessity under section 7 of such Act that 

3 requires multiple Federal authorizations, the Commission, 

4 with input from any Federal or State agency considering 

5 an aspect of the application, shall track and make avail6 able to the public on the Commission’s website information 

7 related to the actions required to complete the Federal au8 thorizations. Such information shall include the following: 

9 (1) The schedule established by the Commission 

10 under section 15(c)(1) of the Natural Gas Act. 

11 (2) A list of all the actions required by each ap12 plicable agency to complete permitting, reviews, and 

13 other actions necessary to obtain a final decision on 

14 the application. 

15 (3) The expected completion date for each such 

16 action. 

17 (4) A point of contact at the agency responsible 

18 for each such action. 

19 (5) In the event that an action is still pending 

20 as of the expected date of completion, a brief expla21 nation of the reasons for the delay. 

22 SEC. 3. PIPELINE SECURITY. 

23 In considering an application for an authorization 

24 under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act or a certificate 

25 of public convenience and necessity under section 7 of such 


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1 Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shall 

2 consult with the Administrator of the Transportation Se3 curity Administration regarding the applicant’s compli4 ance with security guidance and best practice rec5 ommendations of the Administration regarding pipeline 

6 infrastructure security, pipeline cybersecurity, pipeline 

7 personnel security, and other pipeline security measures. 

Æ 


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