113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3 

AN ACT 

To approve the construction, operation, and maintenance of 

the Keystone XL pipeline, 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 ‘‘Northern Route Ap3 proval Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) To maintain our Nation’s competitive edge 

7 and ensure an economy built to last, the United 

8 States must have fast, reliable, resilient, and envi9 ronmentally sound means of moving energy. In a 

10 global economy, we will compete for the world’s in11 vestments based in significant part on the quality of 

12 our infrastructure. Investing in the Nation’s infra13 structure provides immediate and long-term eco14 nomic benefits for local communities and the Nation 

15 as a whole. 

16 (2) The delivery of oil from Canada, a close ally 

17 not only in proximity but in shared values and 

18 ideals, to domestic markets is in the national inter19 est because of the need to lessen dependence upon 

20 insecure foreign sources. 

21 (3) The Keystone XL pipeline would provide 

22 both short-term and long-term employment opportu23 nities and related labor income benefits, such as gov24 ernment revenues associated with taxes. 

25 (4) The State of Nebraska has thoroughly re26 viewed and approved the proposed Keystone XL 
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1 pipeline reroute, concluding that the concerns of Ne2 braskans have had a major influence on the pipeline 

3 reroute and that the reroute will have minimal envi4 ronmental impacts. 

5 (5) The Department of State and other Federal 

6 agencies have over a long period of time conducted 

7 extensive studies and analysis of the technical as8 pects and of the environmental, social, and economic 

9 impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, 

10 and— 

11 (A) the Department of State assessments 

12 found that the Keystone XL pipeline ‘‘is not 

13 likely to impact the amount of crude oil pro14 duced from the oil sands’’ and that ‘‘approval 

15 or denial of the proposed project is unlikely to 

16 have a substantial impact on the rate of devel17 opment in the oil sands’’; 

18 (B) the Department of State found that 

19 incremental life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions 

20 associated with the Keystone XL project are es21 timated in the range of 0.07 to 0.83 million 

22 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, with 

23 the upper end of this range representing twelve 

24 one-thousandths of one percent of the 6,702 
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1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted in 

2 the United States in 2011; and 

3 (C) after extensive evaluation of potential 

4 impacts to land and water resources along the 

5 Keystone XL pipeline’s 875 mile proposed 

6 route, the Department of State found that 

7 ‘‘The analyses of potential impacts associated 

8 with construction and normal operation of the 

9 proposed Project suggest that there would be 

10 no significant impacts to most resources along 

11 the proposed Project route (assuming Keystone 

12 complies with all laws and required conditions 

13 and measures).’’. 

14 (6) The transportation of oil via pipeline is the 

15 safest and most economically and environmentally 

16 effective means of doing so, and— 

17 (A) transportation of oil via pipeline has a 

18 record of unmatched safety and environmental 

19 protection, and the Department of State found 

20 that ‘‘Spills associated with the proposed 

21 Project that enter the environment expected to 

22 be rare and relatively small’’, and that ‘‘there 

23 is no evidence of increased corrosion or other 

24 pipeline threat due to viscosity’’ of diluted bitu-
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1 men oil that will be transported by the Key2 stone XL pipeline; and 

3 (B) plans to incorporate 57 project-specific 

4 special conditions related to the design, con5 struction, and operations of the Keystone XL 

6 pipeline led the Department of State to find 

7 that the pipeline will have ‘‘a degree of safety 

8 over any other typically constructed domestic oil 

9 pipeline’’. 

10 (7) The Keystone XL is in much the same posi11 tion today as the Alaska Pipeline in 1973 prior to 

12 congressional action. Once again, the Federal regu13 latory process remains an insurmountable obstacle 

14 to a project that is likely to reduce oil imports from 

15 insecure foreign sources. 

16 SEC. 3. KEYSTONE XL PERMIT APPROVAL. 

17 Notwithstanding Executive Order No. 13337 (3 

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

19 301 note), section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and 

20 any other Executive order or provision of law, no Presi21 dential permit shall be required for the pipeline described 

22 in the application filed on May 4, 2012, by TransCanada 

23 Keystone Pipeline, L.P. to the Department of State for 

24 the Keystone XL pipeline, as supplemented to include the 

25 Nebraska reroute evaluated in the Final Evaluation Re-
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1 port issued by the Nebraska Department of Environ2 mental Quality in January 2013 and approved by the Ne3 braska governor. The final environmental impact state4 ment issued by the Secretary of State on August 26, 2011, 

5 coupled with the Final Evaluation Report described in the 

6 previous sentence, shall be considered to satisfy all re7 quirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 

8 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and of the National His9 toric Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.). 

10 SEC. 4. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 

11 (a) EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION.—Except for review by 

12 the Supreme Court on writ of certiorari, the United States 

13 Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall 

14 have original and exclusive jurisdiction to determine— 

15 (1) the validity of any final order or action (in16 cluding a failure to act) of any Federal agency or of17 ficer with respect to issuance of a permit relating to 

18 the construction or maintenance of the Keystone XL 

19 pipeline, including any final order or action deemed 

20 to be taken, made, granted, or issued; 

21 (2) the constitutionality of any provision of this 

22 Act, or any decision or action taken, made, granted, 

23 or issued, or deemed to be taken, made, granted, or 

24 issued under this Act; or 
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1 (3) the adequacy of any environmental impact 

2 statement prepared under the National Environ3 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 

4 or of any analysis under any other Act, with respect 

5 to any action taken, made, granted, or issued, or 

6 deemed to be taken, made, granted, or issued under 

7 this Act. 

8 (b) DEADLINE FOR FILING CLAIM.—A claim arising 

9 under this Act may be brought not later than 60 days 

10 after the date of the decision or action giving rise to the 

11 claim. 

12 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—The United 

13 States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir14 cuit shall set any action brought under subsection (a) for 

15 expedited consideration, taking into account the national 

16 interest of enhancing national energy security by providing 

17 access to the significant oil reserves in Canada that are 

18 needed to meet the demand for oil. 

19 SEC. 5. AMERICAN BURYING BEETLE. 

20 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 

21 (1) environmental reviews performed for the 

22 Keystone XL pipeline project satisfy the require23 ments of section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 

24 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2)) in its entirety; and 
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1 (2) for purposes of that Act, the Keystone XL 

2 pipeline project will not jeopardize the continued ex3 istence of the American burying beetle or destroy or 

4 adversely modify American burying beetle critical 

5 habitat. 

6 (b) BIOLOGICAL OPINION.—The Secretary of the In7 terior is deemed to have issued a written statement setting 

8 forth the Secretary’s opinion containing such findings 

9 under section 7(b)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act 

10 of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(b)(1)(A)) and any taking of the 

11 American burying beetle that is incidental to the construc12 tion or operation and maintenance of the Keystone XL 

13 pipeline as it may be ultimately defined in its entirety, 

14 shall not be considered a prohibited taking of such species 

15 under such Act. 

16 SEC. 6. RIGHT-OF-WAY AND TEMPORARY USE PERMIT. 

17 The Secretary of the Interior is deemed to have 

18 granted or issued a grant of right-of-way and temporary 

19 use permit under section 28 of the Mineral Leasing Act 

20 (30 U.S.C. 185) and the Federal Land Policy and Man21 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), as set forth 

22 in the application tendered to the Bureau of Land Man23 agement for the Keystone XL pipeline. 
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1 SEC. 7. PERMITS FOR ACTIVITIES IN NAVIGABLE WATERS. 

2 (a) ISSUANCE OF PERMITS.—The Secretary of the 

3 Army, not later than 90 days after receipt of an applica4 tion therefor, shall issue all permits under section 404 of 

5 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) 

6 and section 10 of the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 U.S.C. 

7 403; commonly known as the Rivers and Harbors Appro8 priations Act of 1899), necessary for the construction, op9 eration, and maintenance of the pipeline described in the 

10 May 4, 2012, application referred to in section 3, as sup11 plemented by the Nebraska reroute. The application shall 

12 be based on the administrative record for the pipeline as 

13 of the date of enactment of this Act, which shall be consid14 ered complete. 

15 (b) WAIVER OF PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS.—The 

16 Secretary may waive any procedural requirement of law 

17 or regulation that the Secretary considers desirable to 

18 waive in order to accomplish the purposes of this section. 

19 (c) ISSUANCE IN ABSENCE OF ACTION BY THE SEC20 RETARY.—If the Secretary has not issued a permit de21 scribed in subsection (a) on or before the last day of the 

22 90-day period referred to in subsection (a), the permit 

23 shall be deemed issued under section 404 of the Federal 

24 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) or section 

25 10 of the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403), as appro26 priate, on the day following such last day. 
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1 (d) LIMITATION.—The Administrator of the Environ2 mental Protection Agency may not prohibit or restrict an 

3 activity or use of an area that is authorized under this 

4 section. 

5 SEC. 8. MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT PERMIT. 

6 The Secretary of the Interior is deemed to have 

7 issued a special purpose permit under the Migratory Bird 

8 Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.), as described in the 

9 application filed with the United States Fish and Wildlife 

10 Service for the Keystone XL pipeline on January 11, 

11 2013. 

12 SEC. 9. OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLAN DISCLOSURE. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any pipeline owner or operator 

14 required under Federal law to develop an oil spill response 

15 plan for the Keystone XL pipeline shall make such plan 

16 available to the Governor of each State in which such pipe17 line operates to assist with emergency response prepared18 ness. 

19 (b) UPDATES.—A pipeline owner or operator required 

20 to make available to a Governor a plan under subsection 

21 (a) shall make available to such Governor any update of 
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1 such plan not later than 7 days after the date on which 

2 such update is made. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 22, 2013. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3 

AN ACT 

To approve the construction, operation, and mainother purposes. tenance of the Keystone XL pipeline, and for