To promote interagency coordination for reviewing certain authorizations under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Additional sponsors: Mr. Dunn of Florida and Mr. Lawler
Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure discharged; committed to the Committee …
Mr. Hudson (for himself and Mr. Balderson) introduced the following …
On Passage
Improving Interagency Coordination for Pipeline Reviews Act
On Motion to Recommit
Improving Interagency Coordination for Pipeline Reviews Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill streamlines natural gas pipeline permitting by making the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the single lead agency for environmental reviews. Other federal agencies must defer to FERCs NEPA analysis instead of conducting their own separate reviews. The goal is faster, more coordinated pipeline approvals.
Who Benefits and How
Natural gas pipeline companies benefit from streamlined permitting with one lead agency instead of multiple overlapping reviews. The oil and gas industry benefits from faster project approvals and reduced regulatory uncertainty. Natural gas producers and LNG exporters benefit from improved infrastructure development timelines.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal agencies like EPA, Army Corps, and Fish & Wildlife Service lose independent authority to scope their own environmental reviews and must defer to FERC. Environmental groups face reduced opportunity to challenge projects through multiple agency reviews. Communities along pipeline routes may have fewer avenues for environmental concerns to be independently evaluated.
Key Provisions
- Designates FERC as the only lead agency for pipeline NEPA reviews
- Requires participating agencies to defer to FERCs environmental analysis scope
- Mandates early coordination between FERC and other agencies
- Streamlines approval timeline by centralizing environmental review
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Streamlines natural gas pipeline permitting by designating FERC as sole lead agency for NEPA reviews and requiring other agencies to defer to FERC environmental analysis
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Consolidate pipeline permitting authority in FERC to reduce delays from multiple agency reviews"
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
- "participating_agency"
- → Federal agencies with authorization responsibilities for pipeline projects
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Has the meaning given in section 15(a) of the Natural Gas Act
NEPA review required for Natural Gas Act section 3 authorizations or section 7 certificates
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology