SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northern Route Ap-
proval Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) To maintain our Nation’s competitive edge 
and ensure an economy built to last, the United 
States must have fast, reliable, resilient, and envi-
ronmentally sound means of moving energy. In a 
global economy, we will compete for the world’s in-
vestments based in significant part on the quality of 
our infrastructure. Investing in the Nation’s infra-
structure provides immediate and long-term eco-
nomic benefits for local communities and the Nation 
as a whole. 
(2) The delivery of oil from Canada, a close ally 
not only in proximity but in shared values and 
ideals, to domestic markets is in the national inter-
est because of the need to lessen dependence upon 
insecure foreign sources. 
(3) The Keystone XL pipeline would provide 
both short-term and long-term employment opportu-
nities and related labor income benefits, such as gov-
ernment revenues associated with taxes. 
(4) The State of Nebraska has thoroughly re-
viewed and approved the proposed Keystone XL
pipeline reroute, concluding that the concerns of Ne-
braskans have had a major influence on the pipeline 
reroute and that the reroute will have minimal envi-
ronmental impacts. 
(5) The Department of State and other Federal 
agencies have over a long period of time conducted 
extensive studies and analysis of the technical as-
pects and of the environmental, social, and economic 
impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, 
and— 
(A) the Department of State assessments 
found that the Keystone XL pipeline ‘‘is not 
likely to impact the amount of crude oil pro-
duced from the oil sands’’ and that ‘‘approval 
or denial of the proposed project is unlikely to 
have a substantial impact on the rate of devel-
opment in the oil sands’’; 
(B) the Department of State found that 
incremental life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions 
associated with the Keystone XL project are es-
timated in the range of 0.07 to 0.83 million 
metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, with 
the upper end of this range representing twelve 
one-thousandths of one percent of the 6,702
million metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted in 
the United States in 2011; and 
(C) after extensive evaluation of potential 
impacts to land and water resources along the 
Keystone XL pipeline’s 875 mile proposed 
route, the Department of State found that 
‘‘The analyses of potential impacts associated 
with construction and normal operation of the 
proposed Project suggest that there would be 
no significant impacts to most resources along 
the proposed Project route (assuming Keystone 
complies with all laws and required conditions 
and measures).’’. 
(6) The transportation of oil via pipeline is the 
safest and most economically and environmentally 
effective means of doing so, and— 
(A) transportation of oil via pipeline has a 
record of unmatched safety and environmental 
protection, and the Department of State found 
that ‘‘Spills associated with the proposed 
Project that enter the environment expected to 
be rare and relatively small’’, and that ‘‘there 
is no evidence of increased corrosion or other 
pipeline threat due to viscosity’’ of diluted bitu-
men oil that will be transported by the Key-
stone XL pipeline; and 
(B) plans to incorporate 57 project-specific 
special conditions related to the design, con-
struction, and operations of the Keystone XL 
pipeline led the Department of State to find 
that the pipeline will have ‘‘a degree of safety 
over any other typically constructed domestic oil 
pipeline’’. 
(7) The Keystone XL is in much the same posi-
tion today as the Alaska Pipeline in 1973 prior to 
congressional action. Once again, the Federal regu-
latory process remains an insurmountable obstacle 
to a project that is likely to reduce oil imports from 
insecure foreign sources. 
SEC. 3. KEYSTONE XL PERMIT APPROVAL. 
Notwithstanding Executive Order No. 13337 (3 
U.S.C. 301 note), Executive Order No. 11423 (3 U.S.C. 
301 note), section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and 
any other Executive order or provision of law, no Presi-
dential permit shall be required for the pipeline described 
in the application filed on May 4, 2012, by TransCanada 
Keystone Pipeline, L.P. to the Department of State for 
the Keystone XL pipeline, as supplemented to include the 
Nebraska reroute evaluated in the Final Evaluation Re-
port issued by the Nebraska Department of Environ-
mental Quality in January 2013 and approved by the Ne-
braska governor. The final environmental impact state-
ment issued by the Secretary of State on August 26, 2011, 
coupled with the Final Evaluation Report described in the 
previous sentence, shall be considered to satisfy all re-
quirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and of the National His-
toric Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.). 
SEC. 4. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 
(a) EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION.—Except for review by 
the Supreme Court on writ of certiorari, the United States 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall 
have original and exclusive jurisdiction to determine— 
(1) the validity of any final order or action (in-
cluding a failure to act) of any Federal agency or of-
ficer with respect to issuance of a permit relating to 
the construction or maintenance of the Keystone XL 
pipeline, including any final order or action deemed 
to be taken, made, granted, or issued; 
(2) the constitutionality of any provision of this 
Act, or any decision or action taken, made, granted, 
or issued, or deemed to be taken, made, granted, or 
issued under this Act; or
(3) the adequacy of any environmental impact 
statement prepared under the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 
or of any analysis under any other Act, with respect 
to any action taken, made, granted, or issued, or 
deemed to be taken, made, granted, or issued under 
this Act. 
(b) DEADLINE FOR FILING CLAIM.—A claim arising 
under this Act may be brought not later than 60 days 
after the date of the decision or action giving rise to the 
claim. 
(c) 
EXPEDITED
CONSIDERATION.—The 
United 
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir-
cuit shall set any action brought under subsection (a) for 
expedited consideration, taking into account the national 
interest of enhancing national energy security by providing 
access to the significant oil reserves in Canada that are 
needed to meet the demand for oil. 
SEC. 5. AMERICAN BURYING BEETLE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 
(1) environmental reviews performed for the 
Keystone XL pipeline project satisfy the require-
ments of section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2)) in its entirety; and
(d) LIMITATION.—The Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency may not prohibit or restrict an 
activity or use of an area that is authorized under this 
section. 
SEC. 8. MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT PERMIT. 
The Secretary of the Interior is deemed to have 
issued a special purpose permit under the Migratory Bird 
Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.), as described in the 
application filed with the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service for the Keystone XL pipeline on January 11, 
2013. 
SEC. 9. OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLAN DISCLOSURE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any pipeline owner or operator 
required under Federal law to develop an oil spill response 
plan for the Keystone XL pipeline shall make such plan 
available to the Governor of each State in which such pipe-
line operates to assist with emergency response prepared-
ness. 
(b) UPDATES.—A pipeline owner or operator required 
to make available to a Governor a plan under subsection 
(a) shall make available to such Governor any update of
such plan not later than 7 days after the date on which 
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 main-
tenance of the Keystone XL pipeline, and for 
other purposes.