[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2638 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2638

 To amend the Natural Gas Act to provide certainty with respect to the 
      timing of Department of Energy decisions to approve or deny 
                  applications to export natural gas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 22, 2014

  Mr. Hoeven introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Natural Gas Act to provide certainty with respect to the 
      timing of Department of Energy decisions to approve or deny 
                  applications to export natural gas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Natural Gas Export Certainty Act of 
2014''.

SEC. 2. REGULATORY CERTAINTY.

    Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Deadline for Certain Applications for Exportation of Natural 
Gas.--
            ``(1) LNG terminals.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the 
                Commission shall make a public interest determination 
                and issue an order under subsection (a) for an 
                application for the exportation of natural gas to a 
                foreign country through a particular LNG terminal not 
                later than 45 days after receipt of an application 
                under subsection (e) for--
                            ``(i) the conversion of that LNG terminal 
                        into an LNG import or export facility; or
                            ``(ii) the construction of that LNG 
                        terminal.
                    ``(B) Limitation.--Subparagraph (A) shall only 
                apply to applications for the exportation of natural 
                gas to a foreign country under subsection (a) that have 
                been pending for a period of not less than 180 calendar 
                days.
            ``(2) Application.--This subsection shall not apply with 
        respect to an application under subsection (a) for the 
        exportation of natural gas--
                    ``(A) to a foreign country--
                            ``(i) to which the exportation of natural 
                        gas is otherwise prohibited by law; or
                            ``(ii) described in subsection (c); or
                    ``(B) if the Commission has made a contingent 
                determination with respect to the application.
            ``(3) Effect.--Except as specifically provided in this 
        subsection, nothing in this subsection affects the authority of 
        the Commission to review, process, and make a determination 
        with respect to an application for the exportation of natural 
        gas.
    ``(h) Judicial Action.--
            ``(1) In general.--The United States Court of Appeals for 
        the circuit in which an export facility will be located 
        pursuant to an application described in subsection (a) shall 
        have original and exclusive jurisdiction over any civil action 
        for the review of--
                    ``(A) an order issued by the Secretary of Energy 
                with respect to the application; or
                    ``(B) the failure of the Secretary to issue a 
                decision on the application.
            ``(2) Order.--If the Court in a civil action described in 
        paragraph (1) finds that the Secretary has failed to issue a 
        decision on the application as required under subsection (a), 
        the Court shall order the Secretary to issue the decision not 
        later than 30 days after the date of the order of the Court.
            ``(3) Expedited consideration.--The Court shall--
                    ``(A) set any civil action brought under this 
                subsection for expedited consideration; and
                    ``(B) set the matter on the docket as soon as 
                practicable after the filing date of the initial 
                pleading.''.
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