S. 4680 — Introduced in Senate

II 116th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4680 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 23, 2020Mr. Merkley (for himself and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend the Natural Gas Act to provide that the United States district courts shall not have jurisdiction to condemn property in which a State holds any interest, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Ending Natural Gas Companies' Seizure of Land for Export Profits Act. 2. Jurisdiction of United States district courts over certain eminent domain proceedings Section 7(h) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717f(h)) is amended— (1) in the second sentence— (A) by striking situated: Provided, That the and inserting the following: “situated. (3) Jurisdiction of United States district courts (A) In general The ; and (B) by striking The practice and inserting the following: (2) Practice and procedure The practice ; (2) in the first sentence, by striking (h) When any holder and inserting the following: (h) Eminent domain (1) In general When any holder ; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (B) State property The United States district courts shall not have jurisdiction to condemn property in which a State owns any interest. . 3. Prohibition on the use of eminent domain for exports Section 7(h) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717f(h)) (as amended by section 2) is amended by adding at the end the following: (4) Limitation on use of eminent domain for exports A holder of a certificate of public convenience and necessity may not exercise the right of eminent domain under this subsection if the project covered by the certificate is a project to be constructed substantially for the purpose of transporting natural gas to an LNG terminal or to other pipelines for export from the United States to a foreign country. .