§15943 Certain gathering lines located on Federal land and Indian land

Summary

Allows the Secretary of the Interior to treat approvals for certain oil-and-gas gathering lines and their compressors or pumps on Federal land or on Indian land that serve wells as a “categorical exclusion” under NEPA (as defined in 40 C.F.R. §1508.1 as of November 15, 2021) if three things are true: the line is inside a field or unit already covered by an approved land-use plan or NEPA document that said moving oil, gas, or produced water was a likely activity; the line is next to or inside an already disturbed area or an existing right-of-way corridor; and installing the line would cut either methane releases (if it carries methane) or vehicle traffic (if it does not carry methane). For Indian land, this only applies where NEPA already applies and the tribe with authority over the land sends a written request to the Secretary. Key terms (one line each): “Federal land” = land owned by the United States but not national park units, national wildlife refuges, wilderness system components, certain Forest Service wilderness study areas, or Indian land; “gathering line and associated field compression or pumping unit” = a pipeline that carries oil, natural gas, or produced water from one or more wells plus any needed compressors or pumps, and includes lines from a processing plant to a common-carrier pipeline but excludes common-carrier pipelines; “Indian land” = land held in trust for a tribe or individual, or land owned by a tribe or individual with U.S. restrictions against sale; “produced water” = water that comes from a well and is not a fluid added to fix a well problem; “Secretary” = Secretary of the Interior. This does not change requirements for prior Tribal consent under 25 U.S.C. 324 or 25 U.S.C. 5123(e), section 306108 of title 54, or other federal laws about Tribal consent, and it does not make NEPA apply to land where NEPA would not otherwise apply.