Safe and Accountable Federal Energy Review for Pipelines Act of 2017 or the Safer Pipelines Act of 2017

This bill requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), before granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed pipeline expansion project for which a challenge has been raised, to

• assign an administrative law judge to hold a full trial-type evidentiary hearing on the need for the expansion or conduct an evidentiary hearing after conducting limited discovery, and
• issue a staff report publishing the findings with respect to each factor which includes the data and analyses relied upon in reaching those findings.

Additionally, FERC must (1) conduct a cumulative review of planned energy infrastructure projects in the region of the proposed expansion; (2)consider, in the case of interstate pipeline projects, the cumulative environmental impacts of other interstate or regional projects; and (3) monitor approved pipeline projects for five years to ensure that environmental mitigation steps have been implemented.