Sponsor
Thomas Bryant Cotton
Senator · R-AR
Senator · R-AR
The bill expedites energy project permitting and litigation—reducing costs and delays for sponsors and some local economies—while substantially limiting state authority, narrowing judicial review, and raising the risk that environmental, health, and small‑party concerns will be overlooked or harder to remediate.
Utilities, project sponsors, and nearby residents will get faster, more predictable federal permitting and quicker final court resolution for covered natural gas infrastructure, reducing months or years of delay and regulatory uncertainty.
Applicants (especially utilities and small operators) will face lower application costs and less duplicative paperwork because NEPA review is centralized under a single-lead process.
Construction workers, local economies, and sponsors face reduced risk of prolonged project stoppages because the bill limits long or sweeping injunctions and expedites litigation timetables.
State governments and nearby communities lose a key permit leverage because applicants for covered federal authorizations are exempted from Clean Water Act section 401 certification, reducing state control over water quality conditions.
Residents, tribes, and local governments will have substantially curtailed judicial review options—limits on multiple or later challenges and restrictions on relying on participating‑agency status in court reduce opportunities to contest decisions.
Affected communities and small organizations will be blocked from introducing new post‑record evidence or using discovery in court and face very short filing windows and limited venues, making it harder for less-resourced parties to make their case.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Makes FERC the exclusive NEPA lead for NGA section 3/7 projects, sets coordination timelines, waives CWA §401 for covered approvals, and creates an expedited, centralized judicial-review process.
Official title: Promote interagency coordination for reviewing certain authorizations under the Natural Gas Act, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 15, 2026 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress April 15, 2026
Makes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the sole NEPA lead for natural gas projects that require authorizations under the Natural Gas Act (section 3 and section 7). It sets strict agency coordination deadlines, waives the applicant’s obligation to obtain a Clean Water Act section 401 water quality certification for covered federal authorizations, and directs agencies to defer to FERC’s project-related NEPA scope. Creates a centralized, expedited judicial-review process: issuance of a FERC "core authorization" is treated as final agency action and challengers must file a single consolidated appeal in a specified federal circuit within tight deadlines, with review limited to the administrative record and no new discovery or evidence allowed.