Legislative intent.

It is the Legislature’s intent by adoption of ss. 403.9401-403.9425 to establish a centralized and coordinated permitting process for the location of natural gas transmission pipeline corridors and the construction and maintenance of natural gas transmission pipelines, which necessarily involves several broad interests of the public addressed through the subject matter jurisdiction of several agencies. Recognizing the need to ensure natural gas delivery reliability, safety, and integrity, and in order to meet natural gas energy needs in an orderly and timely fashion, the centralized and coordinated permitting process established by ss. 403.9401-403.9425 is intended to further the legislative goal of ensuring, through available and reasonable methods, that the location of natural gas transmission pipelines produce minimal adverse effect on the environment and public health, safety, and welfare. It is the intent of ss. 403.9401-403.9425 to fully balance the need for natural gas supplies with the broad interests of the public in order to effect a reasonable balance between the need for the natural gas transmission pipeline as a means of providing abundant clean-burning natural gas and the impact on the public and the environment resulting from the location of the natural gas transmission pipeline corridor and the construction and maintenance of the natural gas transmission pipelines. The Legislature intends that the provisions of chapter 120 apply to ss. 403.9401-403.9425 and to proceedings pursuant to those sections except as otherwise expressly exempted by other provisions of ss. 403.9401-403.9425. It is not the intent of this legislation that the natural gas transmission pipeline certification process prevent, delay, or prohibit the issuance of government permits by the appropriate agencies necessary to locate or construct other natural gas pipelines regulated by the state, pipelines regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and natural gas distribution companies, provided all applicable agency permit requirements are met. Nothing in ss. 403.9401-403.9425 shall be deemed to supersede the department’s authority to administer federally delegated or approved permit programs in accordance with the terms of such programs.