Energy-Permitting Overhaul Is Filed as Amendment to College Sports Bill

WASHINGTON — A Senate amendment filed to a bill about college sports would make wide-ranging changes to reviews for natural-gas pipelines, water permits, mining operations and environmental cases.

Senate Amendment 6812 was submitted by Mr. Armstrong as an amendment to S. 4668, a bill concerning college athletes’ name, image and likeness rights and competition in intercollegiate sports. The Senate ordered the amendment to lie on the table. That means it was formally submitted but not adopted, so it has not changed federal law. 1

The pairing is unusual because the amendment would add a title called “American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure” to a college-sports measure. The proposal would affect several major federal permitting systems. 2

For certain natural-gas projects, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, would be the only lead agency for environmental review. Other federal and state agencies would conduct their work at the same time under a schedule generally limited to 270 days, with one possible 60-day extension. Other federal approvals generally would be due within 90 days after FERC completes its project-related environmental review, unless another federal law provides a different schedule.

The amendment would also alter Clean Water Act Section 401, the provision under which states or interstate agencies certify whether certain federally permitted discharges will meet specified water-quality requirements. For covered natural-gas authorizations, a Section 401 certification would no longer be required. A state or interstate agency could propose water-quality conditions, but FERC could include them only upon finding clear and convincing evidence that they were necessary to meet listed Clean Water Act provisions.

For other federal licenses and permits, the proposal would require a certifying authority to act within a period set by the federal licensing agency, no longer than one year. If it did not act, certification would be deemed waived. The amendment would limit the conditions that could be imposed, set standards for denials and restrict court remedies in challenges to certifications.

It would extend certain pollution-discharge permits from five years to 10 years and authorize state, regional and nationwide general permits for similar discharges. It would also extend nationwide permits for dredged or fill material to 10 years and require nationwide permits for specified linear infrastructure and pipeline projects below stated acreage thresholds.

For hardrock mining, the measure would allow as many mill-site claims as reasonably necessary for operations under an approved plan of operations. Each site could be no larger than 5 acres, would convey no mineral rights and could not be patented. Fees on the additional sites would go to an Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund.

The proposal would narrow environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, to effects closely and directly caused by the immediate project. It would set deadlines for application and review decisions, permit reliance on earlier environmental reviews in specified cases and generally restrict courts to remanding unlawful agency actions without vacating them or issuing injunctions. NEPA claims generally would have to be filed within 150 days and meet direct-harm and, where applicable, prior-comment requirements. 2

Supporters could frame the package as a way to reduce delay and uncertainty for energy, mineral and infrastructure projects through coordinated schedules, longer permits and less repeated review. Critics could argue that it would narrow state authority, public participation, environmental review and access to court remedies. Those are competing assessments of potential effects, not findings established by the Senate filing.

The immediate procedural result is narrower: SA 6812 was filed but not adopted. Further reporting would need to establish whether its language will receive Senate consideration or be offered through another legislative vehicle.