Washington, D.C.— U.S. Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and John Hoeven (R-ND) introduced the North American Energy Infrastructure Act, which is bipartisan legislation that would help prevent lengthy delays to important energy infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Donnelly said, “A strong energy economy is an essential part of both Indiana’s and our country’s economic successes and critical to our national security. We need to streamline the process for approval of energy infrastructure projects, so that they are not subject to endless, unnecessary delays. I have long advocated for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline because it is in our economic and national security interests. I am pleased to join my friend, Senator Hoeven to introduce this commonsense legislation to help streamline the approval process for energy infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, and I hope the Senate will consider it yet this fall.”

Hoeven said, “With our closest friend and ally Canada, we can produce more energy than we use, but we can’t get to the point of energy independence without the infrastructure necessary to achieve it. ISIS is reported to be making more than a million dollars a day selling oil from the land it occupies in the Middle East. Energy infrastructure projects are too important to our economy and our national security to be dragged out, virtually for years in the case of the Keystone XL pipeline. We need a process that is fact-based and transparent, a process that looks out for the interests of the American people now and into the future. Our bill achieves that goal.”

The North American Energy Infrastructure Act would streamline decision making on cross-border permits by:

• Eliminating the Presidential Permit requirement for projects crossing the national boundary between the United States and Canada or Mexico;
• Establishing a 120-day time limit on the U.S. State Department to either issue a cross-border permit or deny approval if the project is not in the public interest of the United States, following completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process; and
• Expediting natural gas pipeline permits to Canada or Mexico by requiring the Department of Energy to approve the permit within 30 days of receipt of a completed application.

Donnelly, a strong supporter of constructing the Keystone XL pipeline, believes in an all-in approach toward American energy production as part of his Opportunity Agenda. Donnelly thinks that we should be investing our money in energy infrastructure projects here rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars to purchase energy from overseas. In order to invest in domestic energy infrastructure projects there must be an efficient approval process in place. The Keystone XL pipeline is now in its sixth year of review despite five favorable environmental impact studies (EIS).

The House passed legislation similar to the North American Energy Infrastructure Act with bipartisan support on June 24, 2014.

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