{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/04/15/2026/cotton-introduces-bill-to-lower-energy-costs-for-arkansans", "Cotton Introduces Bill to Lower Energy Costs for Arkansans", "2026-04-15", "2026", "2026-04", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nApril 15, 2026\n\nCotton Introduces Bill to Lower Energy Costs for Arkansans\n\nWashington, DC \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced legislation to streamline natural gas pipeline projects. The Jurisdiction Oversight and Adjudication for Natural Gas Act affirms the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as the sole lead agency and eliminates unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, which will lower energy costs for Arkansans.\n\n\u201cUnnecessary, complex natural gas permitting laws often result in energy shortages and higher prices for Arkansans. My bill would streamline this process to lower prices,\u201d said Senator Cotton.\n\nText of the bill can be found here.\n\nThe Jurisdiction Oversight and Adjudication for Natural Gas Act would:\n\nAffirm FERC as the sole lead agency for coordinating National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews and related federal authorizations for interstate natural gas pipelines under the Natural Gas Act.\n\nRequire participating federal and state agencies to follow schedules set by FERC and conduct their reviews concurrently with FERC\u2019s NEPA process, including acceptance of appropriate remote environmental data.\n\nIncorporate Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification into FERC\u2019s NEPA review, including any terms or conditions required to comply with the Clean Water Act, preventing separate, indefinite processes that can delay projects for reasons unrelated to water quality.\n\nRequire FERC to act on certification requests within 90 days after completing NEPA review.\n\nRequire FERC to consult with the Transportation Security Administration regarding pipeline infrastructure and security measures.\n\nEnsure continued compliance with the Clean Water Act and all other environmental protections.\n\nEstablish a fast, exclusive, and consolidated judicial review process for challenges to federal authorizations for certain energy infrastructure projects (\u201ccovered projects\u201d).\n\nApply to projects requiring a core authorization under the Natural Gas Act. \u201cThe term \u2018core authorization\u2019 means a Federal authorization issued pursuant to section 3(e) or section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act.\u201d\n\nAutomatically deem a core authorization final agency action for all related federal authorizations.\n\nEstablish a single civil action as the sole and exclusive means of judicial review for the project.\n\nBar all subsequent challenges after final adjudication (except by the project sponsor).\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-16T05:48:36Z", "2026-04-16T05:50:08Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/04/15/2026/cotton-introduces-bill-to-lower-energy-costs-for-arkansans"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1054729111492634, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}