LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act
Latest action · Jan 29, 2015 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-9.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 6, 2015
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
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.
Cosponsors 17
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 6, 2015 to Jul 7, 2015; 7 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-CO | Cory Gardner | Original | Jan 6, 2015 |
| D-ND | Heidi Heitkamp | Original | Jan 6, 2015 |
| R-ND | John Hoeven | Original | Jan 6, 2015 |
| D-NM | Martin Heinrich | Original | Jan 6, 2015 |
| D-CO | Michael F. Bennet | Original | Jan 6, 2015 |
| R-WV | Shelley Moore Capito | Original | Jan 6, 2015 |
| D-VA | Tim Kaine | Original | Jan 6, 2015 |
| R-PA | Patrick J. Toomey | Jan 27, 2015 | |
| D-NM | Tom Udall | Jan 27, 2015 | |
| R-OH | Rob Portman | Jan 28, 2015 | |
| D-VA | Mark R. Warner | Feb 11, 2015 | |
| R-MT | Steve Daines | Mar 2, 2015 | |
| R-AZ | Jeff Flake | Apr 27, 2015 | |
| R-TX | John Cornyn | Apr 27, 2015 | |
| R-LA | Bill Cassidy | May 13, 2015 | |
| R-LA | David Vitter | Jun 22, 2015 | |
| R-NV | Dean Heller | Jul 7, 2015 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Energy and Natural Resources Committee | Referred Jan 6, 2015Hearings Jan 29, 2015 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 29, 2015Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-9.
- Jan 6, 2015Introduced in Senate
- Jan 6, 2015Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
In the Congressional Record 1
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senate | Debate and remarks S552 | John Barrasso R-WY | Jan 28, 2015 |
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Printed hearings 3
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| S. Hrg. 114-763 | AMERICAN ENERGY EXPORTS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR U.S. ALLIES AND U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY49 pages | Foreign Relations Committee | Jun 23, 2015 |
| S. Hrg. 114-44 | THE FISCAL YEAR 2016 BUDGET REQUEST FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY209 pages | Energy and Natural Resources Committee | Feb 12, 2015 |
| S. Hrg. 114-9 | S. 33, THE LNG PERMITTING CERTAINTY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT235 pages | Energy and Natural Resources Committee | Jan 29, 2015 |
CRS reports 3
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 3
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R44483 | China’s Natural Gas: Uncertainty for Markets Archived | Report | May 2, 2016 |
| R44090 | Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Assessment of Coal and Natural Gas in the Power Sector Archived | Report | Jun 26, 2015 |
| R42074 | U.S. Natural Gas Exports: New Opportunities, Uncertain Outcomes Archived | Report | Jan 28, 2015 |
Related bills 3
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 89 | Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act | Related bill | Jan 9, 2015 |
| S 2012 | Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 | Related bill | Sep 8, 2016 |
| HR 3682 | Reducing Employer Burdens, Unleashing Innovation, and Labor Development Act of 2015 | Related bill | Sep 30, 2016 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to provide certainty with respect to the timing of Department of Energy decisions to approve or deny applications to export natural gas, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Energy.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 6, 2015Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
