HR 573 — Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act

changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italics, and existing law in which no 
change is proposed is shown in roman):

 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF 1969

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 TITLE II--COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

 [Sec. 201. The President shall transmit to the Congress 
annually beginning July 1, 1970, an Environmental Quality 
Report (hereinafter referred to as the ``report'') which shall 
set forth (1) the status and condition of the major natural, 
manmade, or altered environmental classes of the Nation, 
including, but not limited to, the air, the aquatic, including 
marine, estuarine, and fresh water, and the terrestrial 
environment, including, but not limited to, the forest, 
dryland, wetland, range, urban, suburban, and rural 
environment; (2) current and foreseeable trends in the quality, 
management and utilization of such environments and the effects 
of those trends on the social, economic, and other requirements 
of the Nation; (3) the adequacy of available natural resources 
for fulfilling human and economic requirements of the Nation in 
the light of expected population pressures; (4) a review of the 
programs and activities (including regulatory activities) of 
the Federal Government, the State and local governments, and 
nongovernmental entities or individuals, with particular 
reference to their effect on the environment and on the 
conservation, development and utilization of natural resources; 
and (5) a program for remedying the deficiencies of existing 
programs and activities, together with recommendations for 
legislation.]

SEC. 201. ANNUAL REPORTS ON NEPA'S IMPACT ON PROJECTS.

 (a) Submissions by Lead Agencies.--Not later than July 1, 
2026, and annually thereafter, the head of each lead agency 
shall submit to the Council on Environmental Quality a report 
on--
 (1) each civil action alleging an agency action in 
 violation of this Act that was active during the period 
 beginning June 1 of the preceding year and ending June 
 1 of the current year, which shall identify--
 (A) with respect to each such civil action--
 (i) the defendant lead agency, where 
 applicable, and each plaintiff; and
 (ii) the court in which the civil 
 action was brought and any court to 
 which a decision on the civil action 
 was appealed;
 (B) the number of such civil actions, 
 disaggregated by the defendant agency, with a 
 single entry denoting the lead agency, where 
 applicable, for cases involving multiple 
 Federal agency defendants;
 (C) the alleged basis for each such civil 
 action, disaggregated by covered sectors; and
 (D) the status and outcome, if applicable, of 
 each civil action alleging an agency action in 
 violation of this Act that was active during 
 the period beginning June 1 of the preceding 
 year and ending June 1 of the current year, 
 including whether--
 (i) the civil action resulted in a 
 decision to hold unlawful and set aside 
 the agency action within the meaning of 
 section 706(2) of title 5, United 
 States Code;
 (ii) the civil action resulted in a 
 decision allowing the Federal agency to 
 proceed with the major Federal action;
 (iii) the civil action resulted in an 
 order remanding the matter to the 
 agency for reconsideration without 
 vacating the analysis;
 (iv) any claim under the civil action 
 was resolved by a settlement agreement 
 or consent decree between any plaintiff 
 and the defendant lead agency;
 (v) the civil action is still active; 
 and
 (vi) any of the plaintiffs received 
 an award, including an award of costs 
 pursuant to section 2412 of title 28, 
 United States Code, except that if such 
 information is received after the lead 
 agency submits the applicable report to 
 the Council on Environmental Quality, 
 the lead agency shall include such 
 information in the subsequent report;
 (2) the length of environmental impact statements 
 made publicly available pursuant to section 102(2)(C) 
 during the period of 5 years that ends on June 1 of the 
 current year, which shall include--
 (A) the average and median page count of all 
 such environmental impact statements (not 
 including the page count of any citations or 
 appendices), including such page counts 
 disaggregated by quartiles;
 (B) the average and median page count of any 
 citations and appendices included in such 
 environmental impact statements;
 (C) the number of such environmental impact 
 statements, disaggregated by lead agency and 
 subagency as applicable;
 (D) a description of trends in average and 
 median page count of such environmental impact 
 statements and any citations and appendices 
 included in such environmental impact 
 statements compared to prior reports published 
 by the Council on Environmental Quality; and
 (E) for each report submitted under this 
 section through 2028, a disaggregation of the 
 data from before and after the date of the 
 enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 
 2023;
 (3) an estimate of the cost to prepare the 
 environmental impact statements described in paragraph 
 (2), including--
 (A) the full-time equivalent personnel hour 
 costs, contractor costs, and other direct costs 
 of the lead agency that prepared the 
 environmental impact statement; and
 (B) if practicable, and noted where not 
 practicable, the costs incurred by cooperating 
 agencies, participating agencies, any project 
 sponsor that prepared an environmental impact 
 statement under the supervision of the lead 
 agency, and contractors; and
 (4) the timelines to complete environmental impact 
 statements pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during the 
 period of 10 years that ends on June 1 of the current 
 year, which shall include--
 (A) with respect to each major Federal action 
 commenced during such period of 10 years, the 
 date on which (as applicable)--
 (i) the project sponsor submitted an 
 application for any permit or other 
 authorization for the project;
 (ii) the lead agency began the 
 scoping;
 (iii) the notice of intent to prepare 
 the environmental impact statement was 
 made publicly available;
 (iv) the environmental impact 
 statement was made publicly available;
 (v) the record of decision was made 
 publicly available; and
 (vi) the lead agency provided to the 
 project sponsor notice to proceed on 
 the project;
 (B) the average and median completion 
 timelines during such period of 10 years for 
 each document described in subparagraph (A);
 (C) a description of trends in completion 
 timelines during such period of 10 years for 
 such documents compared to prior reports 
 published by the Council on Environmental 
 Quality; and
 (D) for each report submitted under this 
 section through 2033, a disaggregation of the 
 data from before and after the date of the 
 enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 
 2023.
 (b) Publication and Submission of Reports by the Council on 
Environmental Quality.--
 (1) In general.--The Council on Environmental Qualify 
 shall annually--
 (A) publish the reports received under 
 subsection (a) on the website of the Council on 
 Environmental Quality; and
 (B) submit such reports to the Committee on 
 Natural Resources of the House of 
 Representatives and the Committee on 
 Environment and Public Works of the Senate.
 (2) Inclusion in other reports.--The Council on 
 Environmental Quality may carry out paragraph (1)(B) by 
 including the reports received under subsection (a) in 
 the report submitted under section 107(h).
 (3) Public availability of data.--The Council on 
 Environmental Quality shall publish with each report 
 published under paragraph (1)(A) the underlying data 
 used to prepare each such report and include any 
 citations or other information necessary for the public 
 to locate records related to the court proceedings for 
 any civil action described in subsection (a)(1).
 (c) Format.--To the extent practicable, the information 
included in each report submitted to the Council on 
Environmental Quality under subsection (a) shall be 
disaggregated by covered sector.
 (d) Covered Sector Defined.--In this section, the term 
``covered sector'' means any of the following sectors:
 (1) Aviation and space.
 (2) Broadband.
 (3) Carbon capture and sequestration.
 (4) Conventional energy production.
 (5) Electricity transmission.
 (6) Forestry.
 (7) Information technology infrastructure.
 (8) Manufacturing.
 (9) Mining.
 (10) Pipelines.
 (11) Ports and waterways.
 (12) Renewable energy production.
 (13) Surface transportation.
 (14) Water resources.
 (15) Any other sector as determined by the Council on 
 Environmental Quality or lead agency.

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