House passes three bills to reform regulations affecting energy

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives passed and Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) voted for three bills to reform regulations and federal requirements affecting energy production and delivery – H.R. 806, “Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017,” H.R. 2910, “Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act,” and H.R. 2883, “Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act.”

“There is no question that burdensome energy regulations and unnecessary bureaucratic delays drive up costs and waste time for businesses, which ultimately hurts consumers,” Thornberry said. “These three bills are a step in the right direction to pull back some of the misguided regulations and decisions we have seen over the past few years.”

• H.R. 806, “Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017” 

  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone, which can result in additional red tape and control costs for energy and other businesses operating in an area that does not meet EPA’s standard.  The EPA set a standard in 2008 but did not release the rules for implementation until March 2015.  In October 2015, the EPA released another lower ozone standard at a time when states were still implementing the 2008 standard.  This bill provides states and localities more time to implement the 2015 standard and addresses other challenges under the NAAQS program.  

• H.R. 2910, “Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act”

  There are currently no statutory time limits forcing the federal government to provide companies with necessary certificates to build interstate natural gas pipelines within a set amount of time.  This bill will set deadlines in law and require concurrent reviews for involved federal agencies to increase the predictability and fairness of the pipeline permitting process.

• H.R. 2883, “Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act”

  This bill eliminates the current presidential permit requirements, like those imposed on the Keystone XL project, for pipelines and electricity transmission equipment that cross U.S. international borders.  Instead, this bill establishes a “certificate of crossing” to be issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for pipeline projects or the Energy Department for electricity transmission projects.  The certificate must be issued or denied within 120 days of the completion of an environmental study.

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