I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5630 
To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to apply certain proce-
dures before granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity 
for a proposed pipeline project, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 6, 2016 
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to 
apply certain procedures before granting a certificate 
of public convenience and necessity for a proposed pipe-
line project, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe and Accountable 
Federal Energy Review for Pipelines Act of 2016’’ or the 
‘‘Safer Pipelines Act of 2016’’. 
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SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF NEW NATURAL GAS PIPELINES. 
Section 7(e) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 
717f(e)) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Except in the 
cases’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) Before granting a certificate for a proposed 
pipeline expansion project, the Commission shall— 
‘‘(A) conduct— 
‘‘(i) a full evidentiary hearing on any con-
tested issue of need for the expansion; or 
‘‘(ii) a cumulative review of major energy 
infrastructure projects planned throughout the 
region of the expansion, their purported pur-
pose and need, and their prospective impacts on 
State and regional energy goals; and 
‘‘(B) consider— 
‘‘(i) the existence of underutilized or ineffi-
cient use of existing pipeline capacity; 
‘‘(ii) the effect of approval on existing cus-
tomers of other pipelines; 
‘‘(iii) an analysis of demonstrated regional 
needs for the additional natural gas, including 
consideration of the existence of precedent con-
tracts; 
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‘‘(iv) consistency with the State’s clean 
power plan, State Implementation Plan, renew-
able energy goals, and renewable portfolio 
standard; 
‘‘(v) the region’s ability to meet any defi-
ciency in energy needs through energy effi-
ciency, dual fuel sources, LNG storage, or other 
economically viable and less environmentally 
disruptive measures than pipeline infrastruc-
ture; and 
‘‘(vi) Federal renewable energy goals. 
‘‘(3) In the case of an interstate natural gas pipeline 
project, for purposes of the due process requirements of 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq.), the Commission shall consider, in addition 
to current requirements for environmental impact state-
ments, the cumulative impacts of other interstate natural 
gas pipeline projects located within the same State, as well 
as projects within 100 miles of the project, that are ap-
proved, filed with the Commission or, in the pre-filing 
process— 
‘‘(A) for a 1-year period prior to the filing of 
the project application with the Commission; and 
‘‘(B) before the issuance of the draft environ-
mental impact statement. 
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‘‘(4) The Commission shall require all approved and 
constructed natural gas pipeline projects to undertake a 
five-year monitoring program to confirm that the environ-
mental impacts identified in any environmental impact 
statement or analysis conducted with respect to the project 
have been mitigated.’’. 
Æ 
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