PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-65.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 12, 2015
Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Land Act or the APPROVAL Act
This bill amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to prohibit the Secretary of Energy and the Administrators of the Western Area Power Administration and of the Southwestern Power Administration from using the power of eminent domain to implement modernization of electricity transmission infrastructure, unless they have received explicit permission to do so by: (1) the state governor and the head of each applicable public utility commission or public service commission of the affected state, and (2) the head of the governing body of each Indian tribe whose land would be affected.
An electricity transmission infrastructure project, to the greatest extent practicable, must be sited upon either an existing federal right-of-way or upon federal land managed by either: (1) the Bureau of Land Management, (2) the Forest Service, (3) the Bureau of Reclamation, or (4) the Corps of Engineers.
People & committees
Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] · R–AR
Legislative record
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Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-65.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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