zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
End Polluter Welfare Act of 2015

 Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal the authority of the Department of the Interior to reduce or eliminate royalty payments for oil and natural gas leases in the Outer Continental Shelf.

 Amends the Mineral Leasing Act to increase minimum royalty payments for coal, oil, and natural gas leases.

Amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to prohibit payment of interest upon any overpayment of royalties.

Amends the Oil Pollution Act to eliminate the limitation on liability for offshore facilities and pipeline operators for oil spills.

Rescinds all unobligated balances made available to the World Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Export-Import Bank, the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the Department of Energy (DOE), and other international financing entities to carry out any project that supports power plants that operate on fossil fuel (i.e., coal, petroleum, natural gas, or any derivatives used for fuel). Exempts from such rescission any fossil-fueled power plant project located in a Least Developed Country if no other economically feasible alternative exists, and the project uses the most efficient technology available.

Terminates the Office of Fossil Energy Research and Development in DOE and related implementation authority.

Prohibits the Department of Agriculture from making loans under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to carry out projects that will use fossil fuel.

Prohibits the use of Department of Transportation funds to award any grant or other direct assistance to any rail or port project that transports fossil fuel.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) limit or repeal provisions allowing tax incentives for investment in fossil fuels, (2) increase the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund financing rate, and (3) impose a 13% tax on the removal price of any taxable crude oil or natural gas from the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico.

Repeals the corporate income tax exemption for publicly traded partnerships with qualifying income and gains from activities relating to fossil fuels.

Designates the Powder River Basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming as a coal producing region.

Eliminates accelerated depreciation for property that is receiving a subsidy for fossil fuel production.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Offshore Fracking Transparency and Review Act of 2015

This bill prohibits both hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatment in the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region until the Secretary of the Interior has: (1) reported to Congress on the conduct and impacts of hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatments in the Region; and (2) issued, in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency, a final environmental impact statement regarding the impacts upon the marine environment and public health of offshore hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatments conducted in such Region.

The Secretary must notify all relevant state and local regulatory agencies and publish in the Federal Register within 30 days: (1) receipt of any application for a permit that would allow either offshore hydraulic fracturing or acid well stimulation treatment in the Region; and (2) the conduct of offshore hydraulic fracturing or acid well stimulation treatment in the Region pursuant to a permit or other authorization issued by the Secretary.

The Secretary shall also maintain and publicize a list of all offshore hydraulic fracturing and acid well stimulation treatments that have taken place in the Region or that take place after enactment of this Act.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act

 Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit oil and gas preleasing, leasing, and related activities in areas of the Outer Continental Shelf located off the coast of California.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism Anti-Drilling Act or the COAST Anti-Drilling Act

 Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing a lease or other authorization for the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other mineral in either the Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, or the North Atlantic planning areas.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Seismic Moratorium Act

This bill prohibits conducting geological or geophysical activities in support of oil or gas exploration and development in any area located within a specified exclusive economic zone located off the coastline of Florida.

This moratorium shall only be terminated if the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (of the Department of Commerce) determines that the reasonably foreseeable impacts of such activities are minimal to individuals or populations of marine mammals, sea turtles, or fish.

These geological or geophysical activities are described in the final programmatic environmental impact statement of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (of the Department of the Interior) entitled "Atlantic OCS Proposed Geological and Geophysical Activities, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Planning Areas," completed February 2014.

Date: 2015-05-12
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Energy Supply and Distribution Act of 2015

This bill declares that the production and distribution of energy in the United States requires access to infrastructure and markets.

The Department of Energy (DOE) must collaborate with federal agencies to improve the conceptual development of energy security, considering at a minimum: (1) development of flexible, transparent, and competitive energy markets, including natural gas and oil; and (2) diversification of energy fuels, sources, and routes, and the encouragement of indigenous sources of energy supply.

DOE must also coordinate interagency: (1) data collection for energy distribution on shared energy infrastructure, and (2) training to evaluate and implement cross-border energy projects.

 It is the sense of Congress that growth in crude oil and dry natural gas production varies significantly across oil and natural gas supply regions, thereby: (1) forcing shifts in crude oil and natural gas flows between regions of the United States, and (2) requiring investment or realignment of midstream infrastructure including pipelines.

The Energy Information Administration must collaborate with officials in Canada and Mexico to reconcile data on energy trade flows, extend energy mapping capabilities, and develop common energy data terminology.

Congress declares that processed condensate is a petroleum product.

The DOE Office of Fossil Energy Assessment may assess the suitability of condensate separately from crude oil for use in strategic reserves, while certain agencies within the Department of the Interior must assess condensate separately from crude oil.

The bill authorizes: (1) the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to estimate condensate separately from crude oil as part of the resource assessments regarding domestic geological formations, (2) the Office of Natural Resources Revenue to collect condensate data separately from crude oil, and (3) the United States Geological Survey to include estimates of condensate separately from crude oil as part of the resource assessments regarding domestic geological formations.

Domestic crude oil or condensate (except crude oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) may be exported without a federal license to countries not subject to U.S. sanctions.

Date: 2015-05-15
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Preserving Florida's Coastal Communities Act

Amends the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 to extend the moratorium on oil and gas leasing and related activities in certain areas of the Gulf of Mexico for five years (through June 30, 2027).

Date: 2015-06-03
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act of 2015

 Prohibits an employer from discharging, discriminating, or engaging in retaliatory actions against specified employees who report to a government official any violation or unsafe condition under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Sets forth procedures for the filing, investigation, and adjudication of a complaint regarding such retaliation.

Requires employers to:

 post a notice approved by the Department of Labor explaining employee rights and remedies under this Act in a conspicuous location in the place of employment where employees frequent; provide training to employees about their rights under this Act within 30 days of employment, and at least once every 12 months thereafter; and provide employees with a card containing a toll free telephone number at the Department to get information or file a complaint under this Act. Directs the Department, within 30 days after enactment of this Act, to designate agency officials to receive, investigate, and adjudicate complaints concerning violations under this Act.

Date: 2015-06-18
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Labor and employment
Aerial Infrastructure Route Survey Act of 2015, or the AIR Survey Act of 2015

This bill amends the Natural Gas Act to accept data collected by aerial survey in lieu of ground survey data for the purposes of completing:

 any prefiling process established to facilitate the formal application process for obtaining a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a natural gas transportation facility, or an application associated with a federal authorization concerning a certificate application. An agency that accepts an aerial survey may, nevertheless, require as a condition of approval of an application associated with a federal authorization that the aerial survey data be verified through the use of ground survey data before the construction or extension of the pertinent facility.

Date: 2015-07-10
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Accounting for Methane in Production through Loophole Elimination with Oil and Gas Royalties or the AMPLE Oil and Gas Royalties Act

This bill amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to require, with respect to federal oil and gas leases, a lessee or its designee of a lease in a unit or communitization agreement that contains only federal leases with the same royalty rate and funds distribution, or a lessee or its designee of a lease that is not contained in a unit or communitization agreement, to report and pay royalties on oil and gas production each month based on the actual volume of oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir by or on behalf of that lessee, including all oil and gas not sold by or on behalf of that lessee. (Currently, such lessees pay royalties on oil and gas production based on only the actual volume of production sold by or on behalf of that lessee.)

"Oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir" is defined as any oil and gas that is produced, sold, vented, flared, used for beneficial purposes, leaked, or otherwise emitted during production.

Date: 2015-07-21
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Natural Gas Environmental and Economic Security Act

This bill amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to direct the Department of the Interior to establish specified requirements for:

 reducing and preventing the waste of natural gas, including by venting, flaring, and fugitive releases, from all oil and gas operations subject to mineral leasing law or the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; and measuring and reporting the production and disposition of all gas subject to the mineral leasing laws to allow for more accurate accounting of gas consumed or lost by venting and flaring, and of fugitive releases of such gas. All such requirements shall include consistent enforcement mechanisms for any operations not in compliance with them.

 Royalties otherwise authorized or required to be paid for natural gas shall be assessed on all gas produced under the mineral leasing laws, including:

 gas used or consumed within the area of a tract for the benefit of the lease (commonly referred to as "beneficial use gas"); and all gas consumed or lost by venting, flaring, or fugitive releases through any equipment during upstream operations. Exempted from assessment of these royalties is any natural gas:

 vented or flared in an acute emergency situation posing danger to human health that occurs for no more than 48 hours, or injected into the ground on a lease tract.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to:

 increase to seven years the amortization period for geological and geophysical expenditures; repeal the tax credits for producing oil and gas from marginal wells and for enhanced oil recovery; repeal the tax deduction for the intangible drilling and development costs of oil and gas wells; repeal percentage depletion for oil and gas wells; repeal the tax deduction for tertiary injectant expenses; repeal the passive loss exception for working interests in oil and gas property; deny the tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production activities for oil and gas activities; prohibit the use of the last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting method by major integrated oil companies; and limit the foreign tax credit for dual capacity taxpayers (i.e., taxpayers who are subject to a levy of a foreign country or U.S. possession and receive specific economic benefits from such country or possession).

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an alternative fuel excise tax credit for liquid fuel derived from natural gas through the Fischer-Tropsch process. The Fischer-Tropsch process is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Taxation
Providing Opportunity with Energy Revenues in Counties Act or the POWER Counties Act

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to: (1) change from 40% to 20% the percentage of money received from sales, bonuses, royalties including interest charges collected under the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 that is to be paid into the reclamation fund created by the Reclamation Act; and (2) require 20% of such money to be paid to the county within the boundaries of which the leased lands or deposits are or were located and used by such county for its schools and roads.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
American Pipeline Jobs and Safety Act of 2015

 Directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to prescribe minimum safety standards to require gas or hazardous liquid pipelines constructed or replaced after enactment of this Act to be made of steel that: (1) is produced in the United States, and (2) originates from (or in the case of recycled steel is combined with) iron ore and taconite mined and processed in the United States (Buy America requirements).

Authorizes DOT to waive such requirements if certain conditions are met.

Requires DOT inspection and testing of intrastate gas pipelines not covered by a state pipeline safety program certification or a state pipeline safety agreement to include direct, pre-installation testing of such pipelines for quality verification.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act of 2015 

This bill declares that it is the policy of the United States that the Arctic Ocean should be managed for the best interests of the people of the United States, including by keeping fossil fuels in the ground to avoid the dangerous impacts of climate change.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act is amended to prohibit the Department of the Interior from issuing or renewing a lease or any other authorization for the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas, or any other mineral in the Arctic Ocean, including the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas.

Date: 2015-09-28
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
This bill describes acts that unreasonably burden and discriminate against interstate commerce with respect to natural gas pipeline property. It prohibits states, political subdivisions, and any other taxing authority from: (1) assessing natural gas pipeline property at a value that has a higher ratio to its true market value than the ratio used to assess other commercial and industrial property in the same assessment jurisdiction, (2) levying or collecting a tax on such an assessment, (3) levying or collecting an ad valorem property tax on natural gas pipeline property at a rate that exceeds the rate applicable to commercial and industrial property in the same assessment jurisdiction, or (4) imposing any other tax that discriminates against a natural gas pipeline providing transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The bill grants jurisdiction to U.S. District Courts for claims involving discriminatory taxation of natural gas pipeline property and provides for relief for such claims.

Date: 2015-10-01
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Taxation
This bill authorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, until December 31, 2017, to appoint qualified candidates to positions that would likely allow increased activities relating to pipeline safety without regard to federal examination, selection, and placement provisions.

 The Administration shall submit to Congress a report annually through 2017 on its efforts to hire women, minorities, and veterans as inspectors since January 1, 2012.

Date: 2015-10-23
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2015

This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Department of the Interior from issuing a lease for the exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas in any area of the outer Continental Shelf off the coast of California, Oregon, or Washington.

Date: 2015-11-04
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
CLEANER Act of 2015 or the Closing Loopholes and Ending Arbitrary and Needless Evasion of Regulations Act of 2015

This bill amends the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to eliminate the exemption for waste derived from the exploration, development, or production of crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal energy from regulations governing the disposal of hazardous waste.

Within a year of this bill's enactment, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must:

 determine whether waste associated with oil, gas, or geothermal energy activities meet the criteria promulgated for the identification or listing of hazardous waste; identify or list as hazardous waste any of those wastes if they meet the identification or listing criteria; and promulgate regulations regarding standards applicable to generators, transporters, and owners and operators of facilities for the treatment, storage, or disposal of those wastes. The EPA may modify the regulation of those standards to consider the special characteristics of those wastes so long as the modified regulations protect human health and the environment.

Within a year of this bill's enactment, the EPA must promulgate revisions of certain criteria concerning landfills and waste management practices of open dumping for facilities that may receive wastes that are: (1) associated with those activities, and (2) not identified or listed as hazardous waste. Those revisions must:

 protect human health and the environment, while allowing consideration of the practicable capability of such facilities; and require groundwater monitoring as necessary to detect contamination; establish criteria for the acceptable location of new or existing facilities; and provide for corrective action and financial assurance as appropriate.

Date: 2015-12-10
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Environmental protection
Consumers Rebate to ban Emissions and Boost AlTernative Energy Act or the Consumers REBATE Act

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose as of January 1, 2017, an excise tax on the production or importation of a taxable carbon substance (i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas), payable by the producer, miner, or importer of such substance. The tax does not apply to exports of a taxable carbon substance.

The bill requires the Department of the Treasury to: (1) impose carbon equivalency fees on imports of goods containing or produced using a taxable carbon substance; and (2) make quarterly payments, from the amounts deposited pursuant to imposition of the carbon excise tax, to lawful residents of the United States with a valid social security number.

Date: 2015-12-17
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Taxation
Ensuring the Taxpayer a Fair Return for Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Resources Act of 2015

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to increase the minimum acceptable bids and rentals for leases of oil, natural gas, and tar sand on federal land.

Minimum acceptable bids and rentals shall receive inflation adjustments once every four years.

One-third of any amounts received by the United States from sales, bonuses, and royalties, including interest charges collected under the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, and from rentals of the public lands in Alaska under the Mineral Leasing Act and the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, shall be made available in specified percentages:

 for use for oil and gas inspection and enforcement; to remediate, reclaim, and properly plug and abandon orphan oil and gas wells on federal lands; and to the state within whose boundaries the leased land is located, or the deposits were derived, for state use in accordance with specified requirements.

Date: 2016-01-13
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Natural Gas Leak Prevention Act of 2016

This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue minimum uniform safety standards for the operation, environmental protection, and integrity management of underground natural gas storage facilities.

The bill defines an "underground natural gas storage facility" as a gas pipeline facility that stores gas in an underground facility, including:

 a depleted hydrocarbon reservoir, an aquifer reservoir, or a solution mined salt cavern reservoir. DOT, in developing such standards, shall:

 consider the economic impacts of the regulations on individual gas customers, ensure that the regulations do not have a significant economic impact on end users, and consider existing consensus standards. A user fee shall be imposed on an entity operating an underground natural gas storage facility. Collected fees shall be deposited in an underground natural gas storage facility safety account, which shall be established in the Pipeline Safety Fund and which shall be made available only for activities related to natural gas storage safety.

Date: 2016-02-02
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Keep It in the Ground Act of 2017

This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from issuing, renewing, reinstating, or extending any nonproducing lease, or issuing any authorization for the exploration or production of oil, natural gas, or any other fossil fuel in the Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or any other area of the Outer Continental Shelf. BOEM shall also cancel within 60 days any lease issued in the Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, or Chukchi Sea (three of the five bodies of water that encompass the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf). The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) must not issue, renew, reinstate, or extend any nonproducing lease for the exploration or production of any onshore fossil fuels, including coal, oil, tar sands, oil shale, and gas, on land subject to the Mineral Leasing Act.

The bill provides for exceptions if there is an imminent national security threat that would be significantly reduced by granting an exception.

In addition, BOEM and the BLM may allow a nonproducing lease to be renewed or extended if the lease contract was signed before this bill, and giving effect to any provision of this bill is likely to lead to a material breach of contract.

Date: 2016-02-11
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
United States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Act of 2016

This bill establishes the United States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to investigate and address any practices on the part of OPEC that prevent or reduce competition in the global oil market.

The Commission shall be composed of a bipartisan group of 16 experts on energy and related matters chosen by the leadership of both parties in Congress and appointed by the President. All members of the Commission must be U.S. citizens.

The bill requires the Commission to:

 determine whether the anti-competitive behavior of OPEC is designed to disadvantage U.S. oil producers; assess the impact of OPEC's policies on U.S. economic and energy security interests; assess how federal agencies are working to alleviate the potential negative impacts of OPEC's behavior; and produce policy recommendations for tax, trade, defense, diplomacy, and other areas where OPEC's behavior is found to cause adverse impacts. The Commission must submit a report of its findings and recommendations to Congress and the President within 12 months. The Commission shall terminate within 90 days after submission of its report. On receipt of the Commission's report, the President will have 90 days to submit Congress a proposal to implement or respond to the recommendations.

Date: 2016-02-12
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Underground Gas Storage Safety Act

This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to prescribe minimum safety standards, meeting specified requirements, for underground gas storage facilities.

A state authority may, however, adopt additional or more stringent safety standards for intrastate underground gas storage facilities.

Until final standards are prescribed, all underground natural gas storage facilities shall comply with certain minimum requirements, including those in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifer reservoirs and those in solution-mined salt caverns.

DOT shall make grants for research and development activities relating to: (1) improved underground gas storage safety, or (2) an odorant additive for gas that is both detectable and nontoxic.

A user fee shall be imposed on each operator of an underground gas storage facility to which specified safety requirements apply.

Date: 2016-02-12
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Pipeline Inspection Enforcement Act of 2016

 This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to require the person purchasing or operating a gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facility to inspect it to confirm the pipeline's status as active or abandoned.

The DOT shall require also, by regulation, that the regulatory authority responsible for inspections of the facility ensure that such an inspection is conducted. The inspection requirement shall apply with respect to newly listed abandoned pipelines as well.

Date: 2016-02-25
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the suspension of the taxable income limitation on percentage depletion for oil and natural gas produced from marginal properties.

Date: 2016-03-02
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Taxation
North Carolina Opening Fossil Fuels Safely and Harnessing Opportunities for Robust Employment Act or the NC OFFSHORE Act

This bill requires the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to conduct one oil and gas lease sale off North Carolina's coast every year for five years.

In addition, it protects military operations by allowing BOEM and the Department of Defense to mutually make certain areas off limits to exploration and allows coastal states to receive revenue from offshore energy projects.

This mandate shall take effect not later than two years after enactment of this bill.

Date: 2016-03-16
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Requiring Equal Sleep for Truckers Act of 2016 or the REST Act of 2016

This bill directs the Department of Transportation to revise federal regulations regarding hours of service of drivers to require that: (1) in the case of specially trained drivers of commercial motor vehicles that are specially constructed to service oil wells, on-duty time shall include waiting time at a natural gas or oil well site; and (2) the requirements relating to rest breaks and maximum driving time for commercial motor vehicles are applied, without exception, to such drivers and to drivers of commercial motor vehicles used exclusively in the transportation of oil field equipment.

Date: 2016-03-23
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
This bill directs the Department of Energy to update its report on the energy and environmental benefits of re-refining used lubricating oil and submit to Congress a strategic plan to increase the beneficial reuse of lubricating oil.

Date: 2016-04-15
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Prosecuting Irresponsible Pipeline Explosions Act of 2016 or the PIPE Act of 2016

This bill imposes criminal penalties upon persons who recklessly damage or destroy certain gas pipelines or hazardous liquid pipelines through deliberate indifference to or conscious disregard of the consequences of their conduct.

Date: 2016-04-15
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Great Lakes Pipeline Safety Act of 2016

This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct a study to determine the economic and environmental risks of oil or hazardous liquids spills or leaks in the Straits of Mackinac that a failure of onshore, underwater pipeline facilities within the straits would pose to the Great Lakes.

In addition, DOT must evaluate the condition and structural integrity of the facilities.

DOT shall terminate operations of a facility upon a determination, based on such studies, that risk of hazard to life, property, or the environment warrants termination.

Date: 2016-04-27
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
PHMSA Accountability Act

This bill allows a private person to bring a civil action for a writ of mandamus in an appropriate U.S. district court to compel the Department of Transportation to perform a nondiscretionary duty under federal pipeline safety provisions that it has failed to perform.

Date: 2016-06-09
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Innovation in Offshore Leasing Act

(Sec. 2)This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to authorize the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)to conduct offshore oil and gas lease sales through Internet-based bidding methods.

Before conducting any Internet-based sale, BOEM is required to gather information from each company present for bidding at the 10 most recent oil and gas lease sales conducted under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The information is designed to provide the bidding public sufficient opportunity to share ideas, methods, and concerns regarding Internet-based leasing.

All Internet-based sales must meet certain requirements and BOEM shall publicly disclose statistical data regarding any sale on the day the sale is executed.

Additionally, BOEM must conduct at least one Internet-based lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Region within 18 months.

BOEM must also provide a report to Congress within 90 days after it conducts a third Internet-based lease sale.

Date: 2016-06-24
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Safe and Accountable Federal Energy Review for Pipelines Act of 2016 or the Safer Pipelines Act of 2016

This bill amends the Natural Gas Act to require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), before granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed pipeline expansion project, to:

 conduct a full evidentiary hearing on the need for the expansion or a cumulative review of planned energy infrastructure projects in the region of the proposed expansion; and consider matters that include existing capacity, renewable energy goals, and the ability to otherwise meet energy needs. Additionally, FERC must: (1) consider, in the case of interstate pipeline projects, the cumulative environmental impacts of other interstate or regional projects; and (2) monitor approved pipeline projects for five years to ensure that environmental mitigation steps have been implemented.

Date: 2016-07-06
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act

This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit conducting geological or geophysical activities in support of oil or gas exploration and development on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf.

The geological and geophysical activities are described in a final programmatic environmental impact statement by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management entitled "Atlantic OCS Proposed Geological and Geophysical Activities, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Planning Areas."

Date: 2016-07-14
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Transparency in Energy Production Act of 2016

This bill requires the Department of the Interior to publicly disclose the amounts of fossil fuel production, including amounts of gas released (as by flaring), and renewable energy production on public lands.

The data shall present amounts of greenhouse gas emissions using the 20- and 100-year Global Warming Potential-weighted emission values and, for renewable energy production, compare fossil fuel-generated emissions resulting from the same amount of energy.

 As determined necessary to implement this bill, Interior shall promulgate regulations regarding accurate measurement and reporting of methane emissions.

Date: 2016-09-15
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Know Your Oil Act of 2016 

This bill directs the Department of Energy (DOE)to issue regulations thatrequire companies that extract or refine oil to disclose oil data, including the amounts and sourcesof greenhouse gas emitted during the oilextraction, refining, and combustion process.

DOE must consult with federal agencies and state and tribal governments to carry out this bill.Additionally, DOE must publicly disclose and maintain thedata it collects on greenhouse gas emissions and oil field resources.

Date: 2016-09-20
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Big Oil Bailout Prevention Unlimited Liability Act of 2016

This bill amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to revise requirements governing the liability of parties that are responsible for oil discharges from offshore facilities into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. Currently, responsible parties are liable for the total of all removal costs plus $75 million. The bill: (1) removes the cap of $75 million on liability, and (2) makes the responsible parties liable for all covered damages. Covered damages includes damages for: (1) loss of natural resources, property, revenue, or profits; or (2) costs of providing increased public services during or after removal activities, such as fire protection.

Date: 2016-11-30
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Environmental protection
Big Oil Bailout Prevention Trust Fund Act of 2016

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate: (1) the $1 billion per incident limitation on expenditures from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for cleanup of oil spills, (2) the $500 million per incident limitation on expenditures from the trust fund for natural resource damage assessments and claims in connection with oil spills, and (3) the limitation on the borrowing authority of the trust fund.

The bill also amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to direct the President to promulgate regulations to allow advance payments from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to states and localities to prepare for and mitigate substantial threats from the discharge of oil.

Date: 2016-11-30
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Environmental protection
Protecting States' Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act

Amends the Mineral Leasing Act to prohibit the Department of the Interior from enforcing any federal regulation, guidance, or permit requirement regarding hydraulic fracturing (including any component of that process), relating to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities on or under any land in any state that has regulations, guidance, or permit requirements for that activity.

Requires Interior to recognize and defer to state regulations, permitting, and guidance, for all activities regarding hydraulic fracturing relating to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities on federal land regardless of whether those rules are duplicative, more or less restrictive, have different requirements, or do not meet federal regulations, guidance, or permit requirements.

Defines "hydraulic fracturing" as the process by which fracturing fluids (including a fracturing fluid system) are pumped into an underground geologic formation to generate fractures or cracks, thereby increasing rock permeability near the wellbore and improving production of natural gas or oil.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act

Directs the Secretary of Energy (DOE), for proposals that must also obtain authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or the United States Maritime Administration to site, construct, expand, or operate liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities, to issue a decision on an application for authorization to export natural gas within 45 days after the later of: (1) the conclusion of the review to site, construct, expand, or operate the LNG facilities required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA); or (2) the date of enactment of this Act.

Deems a NEPA review to be concluded when the lead agency: (1) publishes an Environmental Impact Statement if the project requires one; (2) publishes a Finding of No Significant Impact if the project needs an Environmental Assessment; or (3) determines that an application is eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to NEPA regulations.

(A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.) Confers upon either the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit or the circuit in which the export facility will be located original and exclusive jurisdiction over any civil action for the review of: (1) a DOE order regarding the application; or (2) DOE failure to issue a final decision on the application.

Requires the Court, if it finds in a civil action that DOE has failed to issue a final decision on an application, to order DOE to issue a decision within 30 days.

Requires the Court to set any civil action brought under this Act on the docket, for expedited consideration, as soon as practical after the filing date of the initial pleading.

Amends the Natural Gas Act to direct the Secretary, in the case of any LNG export authorization, to require the applicant to report to DOE, according to specified timelines, the names of the one or more countries of destination to which the exported LNG is delivered.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Deems the Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2010-2015, issued by the Secretary of the Interior, to be the final oil and gas leasing program for the period FY2015-FY2020.

Considers the Secretary to have issued a final environmental impact statement to the FY2013-FY2018 oil and gas leasing program in accordance with certain requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Excludes Lease Sales 214, 232, and 239, from the FY2015-FY2020 final oil and gas leasing program.

Declares that this Act does not affect restrictions on oil and gas leasing under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006.

Date: 2015-01-07
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Strategic Petroleum Supplies Act

Prohibits the Administration from authorizing sales of petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the date all requisite permits under Executive Order 13337 for the Keystone XL pipeline project application filed on September 19, 2008, have been issued.

Excepts from such prohibition U.S. obligations under the international energy program.

Date: 2015-01-07
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act

(Sec. 2) Authorizes TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. to construct, connect, operate, and maintain the pipeline and cross-border facilities specified in an application filed by TransCanada Corporation to the Department of State on May 4, 2012.

Deems the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement regarding the pipeline issued by the Secretary of State in January 2014 to fully satisfy the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and any law that requires federal agency consultation or review, including the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Maintains in effect any applicable federal permit or authorization issued before enactment of this Act.

Grants original and exclusive jurisdiction, except for review in the Supreme Court, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over any civil action for the review of a federal agency action regarding the pipeline and related facilities.

Declares that this Act does not alter any federal, state, or local process or condition in effect on the date of enactment of this Act that is necessary to secure access from an owner of private property to construct the pipeline and cross-border facilities.

Date: 2015-01-12
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
Directs the Secretary of Energy to ensure that any crude oil and bitumen transported into the United States by the Keystone XL pipeline, and all refined petroleum fuel products originating from that crude oil or bitumen, will be entered into domestic commerce in the United States for use as fuel or the manufacture of another product.

Authorizes the President to waive such requirement in the national interest in specified circumstances, including where: (1) an exchange of crude oil or refined product provides for no net loss of crude oil or refined product consumed domestically; or (2) a waiver is necessary under the Constitution, a law, or an international agreement.

Date: 2015-01-16
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
This bill equalizes the excise tax on liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas by establishing a rate of 18.3 cents per energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline for liquefied petroleum gas and 24.3 cents per energy equivalent of a gallon of diesel for liquefied natural gas.

Date: 2015-02-03
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Taxation
Authorizing Alaska Production Act

 Authorizes the exploration, leasing, development, production, and economically feasible and prudent transportation of oil and gas in and from the Coastal Plain of Alaska.

Directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish a competitive oil and gas leasing program for oil and gas exploration, development, and production on the Coastal Plain.

Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to repeal the prohibition against production of oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

States that, in connection with specified environmental protection laws, the Secretary shall neither: (1) identify nonleasing alternative courses of action, nor (2) analyze the environmental effects of those actions.

Prohibits the Secretary from closing land within the Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing, exploration, development, or production except in accordance with this Act.

Directs the Secretary, within one year after the first lease sale is conducted under this Act, to conduct a second lease sale (and additional sales if sufficient interest in exploration or development exists).

Prescribes procedures for lease sales and lease grants on the Coastal Plain that include the requirement that the standard for land reclamation be either: (1) a condition capable of supporting the uses that the land was capable of supporting before any exploration, development, or production activities; or (2) a higher or better standard, as approved by the Secretary, upon the lessee's application.

Prescribes Coastal Plain environmental protection standards that require the Secretary to administer this Act: (1) using a no significant adverse effect standard to govern authorized Coastal Plain activities; (2) implementing site-specific assessment and mitigation measures; (3) promulgating regulations to protect coastal plain fish and wildlife resources, subsistence users, and the environment; (4) requiring compliance with federal and state environmental laws; and (5) ensuring that local residents have reasonable access to public land for traditional uses.

Deems any rights-of-way or easements across the Coastal Plain for the exploration, development, production, or transportation of oil and gas to be established incident to the management of the Coastal Plain.

Requires the Secretary to convey to: (1) the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation the surface estate of certain land, and (2) the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation the remaining subsurface estate to which that Corporation is entitled under a specified agreement.

Establishes in the Treasury the Coastal Plain Local Government Impact Aid Assistance Fund to provide financial assistance to certain entities in Alaska directly impacted by oil or gas exploration or production on the Coastal Plain. Restricts the use of such financial assistance to specified purposes.

Date: 2015-02-12
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy
American Natural Gas Security and Consumer Protection Act 

Amends the Natural Gas Act to prohibit exporting natural gas from the United States to a foreign country without first having secured an order of the Secretary of Energy (DOE) authorizing the exportation.

Allows DOE to: (1) authorize such exportation after determining that it is consistent with the public interest, and (2) modify the export application as DOE determines necessary.

Requires the Secretary to issue: (1) an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 on such an order, and (2) a summary of an analysis on the impact of extraction of exported natural gas upon the environment in those communities where the natural gas is extracted.

Directs DOE to promulgate final regulations to establish the processes for determining whether a proposed exportation of natural gas from the United States to a foreign country is in the public interest.

Exempts any export authorization order from the EIS and public interest requirements if the natural gas would be exported solely to meet certain requirements of: (1) the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, (2) the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or (3) the Trading with the Enemy Act. Authorizes DOE, furthermore, to issue such orders without modification or delay after receiving an application.

States that this Act does not affect certain authority under the Natural Gas Act regarding the importation or exportation of natural gas to a nation with which a free trade agreement is in effect.

Date: 2015-02-26
Topic: Energy (Natural Gas & Oil)
Subject: Energy