II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2638 

To amend the Natural Gas Act to provide certainty with respect to the 

timing of Department of Energy decisions to approve or deny applications 

to export natural gas. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2014 

Mr. HOEVEN 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 provide certainty with 

respect to the timing of Department of Energy decisions 

to approve or deny applications to export natural gas. 

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 ‘‘Natural Gas Export 

5 Certainty Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REGULATORY CERTAINTY. 

7 Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) 

8 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(g) DEADLINE FOR CERTAIN APPLICATIONS FOR

2 EXPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) LNG TERMINALS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara5 graph (B), the Commission shall make a public 

6 interest determination and issue an order under 

7 subsection (a) for an application for the expor8 tation of natural gas to a foreign country 

9 through a particular LNG terminal not later 

10 than 45 days after receipt of an application 

11 under subsection (e) for— 

12 ‘‘(i) the conversion of that LNG ter13 minal into an LNG import or export facil14 ity; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) the construction of that LNG 

16 terminal. 

17 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Subparagraph (A) 

18 shall only apply to applications for the expor19 tation of natural gas to a foreign country under 

20 subsection (a) that have been pending for a pe21 riod of not less than 180 calendar days. 

22 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—This subsection shall not 

23 apply with respect to an application under sub24 section (a) for the exportation of natural gas— 

25 ‘‘(A) to a foreign country— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to which the exportation of nat2 ural gas is otherwise prohibited by law; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) described in subsection (c); or 

4 ‘‘(B) if the Commission has made a contin5 gent determination with respect to the applica6 tion. 

7 ‘‘(3) EFFECT.—Except as specifically provided 

8 in this subsection, nothing in this subsection affects 

9 the authority of the Commission to review, process, 

10 and make a determination with respect to an appli11 cation for the exportation of natural gas. 

12 ‘‘(h) JUDICIAL ACTION.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Court of 

14 Appeals for the circuit in which an export facility 

15 will be located pursuant to an application described 

16 in subsection (a) shall have original and exclusive ju17 risdiction over any civil action for the review of— 

18 ‘‘(A) an order issued by the Secretary of 

19 Energy with respect to the application; or 

20 ‘‘(B) the failure of the Secretary to issue 

21 a decision on the application. 

22 ‘‘(2) ORDER.—If the Court in a civil action de23 scribed in paragraph (1) finds that the Secretary 

24 has failed to issue a decision on the application as 

25 required under subsection (a), the Court shall order 


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1 the Secretary to issue the decision not later than 30 

2 days after the date of the order of the Court. 

3 ‘‘(3) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—The Court 

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) set any civil action brought under 

6 this subsection for expedited consideration; and 

7 ‘‘(B) set the matter on the docket as soon 

8 as practicable after the filing date of the initial 

9 pleading.’’. 

Æ 


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