I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1577
To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to clarify ambig-
uous provisions, reflect modern technologies, optimize interagency coordi-
nation, and facilitate a more efficient, effective, and timely environmental
review process.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH14, 2023
Mr. G
RAVESof Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
to clarify ambiguous provisions, reflect modern tech-
nologies, optimize interagency coordination, and facilitate
a more efficient, effective, and timely environmental re-
view process.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘BUILDER Act of 4
2023’’ or the ‘‘Building United States Infrastructure 5
through Limited Delays and Efficient Reviews Act of 6
2023’’. 7
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SEC. 2. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF 1969. 1
(a) P
ARAGRAPH(2) OFSECTION102.—Section 2
102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 3
(42 U.S.C. 4332(2)) is amended— 4
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘insure’’ 5
and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; 6
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘insure’’ 7
and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; 8
(3) in subparagraph (C)— 9
(A) by inserting ‘‘consistent with the provi-10
sions of this Act and except as provided by 11
other provisions of law,’’ before ‘‘include in 12
every’’; 13
(B) by striking clauses (i) through (v) and 14
inserting the following: 15
‘‘(i) reasonably foreseeable environmental 16
effects with a reasonably close causal relation-17
ship to the proposed agency action; 18
‘‘(ii) any reasonably foreseeable adverse en-19
vironmental effects which cannot be avoided 20
should the proposal be implemented; 21
‘‘(iii) a reasonable number of alternatives 22
to the proposed agency action, including an 23
analysis of any negative environmental impacts 24
of not implementing the proposed agency action 25
in the case of a no action alternative, that are 26
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technically and economically feasible, are within 1
the jurisdiction of the agency, meet the purpose 2
and need of the proposal, and, where applicable, 3
meet the goals of the applicant; 4
‘‘(iv) the relationship between local short- 5
term uses of man’s environment and the main-6
tenance and enhancement of long-term produc-7
tivity; and 8
‘‘(v) any irreversible and irretrievable com-9
mitments of Federal resources which would be 10
involved in the proposed agency action should it 11
be implemented.’’; and 12
(C) by striking ‘‘the responsible Federal 13
official’’ and inserting ‘‘the head of the lead 14
agency’’; 15
(4) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘Any’’ 16
and inserting ‘‘any’’; 17
(5) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 18
through (I) as subparagraphs (F) through (K), re-19
spectively; 20
(6) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol-21
lowing: 22
‘‘(D) ensure the professional integrity, including 23
scientific integrity, of the discussion and analysis in 24
an environmental document; 25
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‘‘(E) make use of reliable existing data and re-1
sources in carrying out this Act;’’; 2
(7) by amending subparagraph (G), as redesig-3
nated, to read as follows: 4
‘‘(G) consistent with the provisions of this Act, 5
study, develop, and describe technically and economi-6
cally feasible alternatives within the jurisdiction and 7
authority of the agency;’’; and 8
(8) in subparagraph (H), as amended, by in-9
serting ‘‘consistent with the provisions of this Act,’’ 10
before ‘‘recognize’’. 11
(b) N
EWSECTIONS.—Title I of the National Envi-12
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 13
is amended by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘SEC. 106. PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINATION OF LEVEL OF 15
REVIEW. 16
‘‘(a) T
HRESHOLDDETERMINATIONS.—An agency is 17
not required to prepare an environmental document with 18
respect to a proposed agency action if— 19
‘‘(1) the proposed agency action is not a final 20
agency action within the meaning of such term in 21
chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code; 22
‘‘(2) the proposed agency action is covered by 23
a categorical exclusion established by the agency, an-24
other Federal agency, or another provision of law; 25
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‘‘(3) the preparation of such document would 1
clearly and fundamentally conflict with the require-2
ments of another provision of law; 3
‘‘(4) the proposed agency action is, in whole or 4
in part, a nondiscretionary action with respect to 5
which such agency does not have authority to take 6
environmental factors into consideration in deter-7
mining whether to take the proposed action; 8
‘‘(5) the proposed agency action is a rulemaking 9
that is subject to section 553 of title 5, United 10
States Code; or 11
‘‘(6) the proposed agency action is an action for 12
which such agency’s compliance with another stat-13
ute’s requirements serve the same or similar func-14
tion as the requirements of this Act with respect to 15
such action. 16
‘‘(b) L
EVELS OFREVIEW.— 17
‘‘(1) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT .— 18
An agency shall issue an environmental impact 19
statement with respect to a proposed agency action 20
that has a significant effect on the quality of the 21
human environment. 22
‘‘(2) E
NVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT .—An agen-23
cy shall prepare an environmental assessment with 24
respect to a proposed agency action that is not likely 25
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to have a significant effect on the quality of the 1
human environment, or if the significance of such ef-2
fect is unknown, unless the agency finds that a cat-3
egorical exclusion established by the agency, another 4
Federal agency, or another provision of law applies. 5
Such environmental assessment shall be a concise 6
public document prepared by a Federal agency to set 7
forth the basis of such agency’s finding of no signifi-8
cant impact. 9
‘‘(3) S
OURCES OF INFORMATION .—In making a 10
determination under this subsection, an agency— 11
‘‘(A) may make use of any reliable data 12
source; and 13
‘‘(B) is not required to undertake new sci-14
entific or technical research. 15
‘‘SEC. 107. TIMELY AND UNIFIED FEDERAL REVIEWS. 16
‘‘(a) L
EADAGENCY.— 17
‘‘(1) D
ESIGNATION.— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If there are two or 19
more involved Federal agencies, such agencies 20
shall determine, by letter or memorandum, 21
which agency shall be the lead agency based on 22
consideration of the following factors: 23
‘‘(i) Magnitude of agency’s involve-24
ment. 25
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‘‘(ii) Project approval or disapproval 1
authority. 2
‘‘(iii) Expertise concerning the ac-3
tion’s environmental effects. 4
‘‘(iv) Duration of agency’s involve-5
ment. 6
‘‘(v) Sequence of agency’s involve-7
ment. 8
‘‘(B) J
OINT LEAD AGENCIES .—In making 9
a determination under subparagraph (A), the 10
involved Federal agencies may, in addition to a 11
Federal agency, appoint such Federal, State, 12
Tribal, or local agencies as joint lead agencies 13
as the involved Federal agencies shall determine 14
appropriate. Joint lead agencies shall jointly 15
fulfill the role described in paragraph (2). 16
‘‘(C) M
INERAL PROJECTS .—This para-17
graph shall not apply with respect to a mineral 18
exploration or mine permit. 19
‘‘(2) R
OLE.—A lead agency shall, with respect 20
to a proposed agency action— 21
‘‘(A) supervise the preparation of an envi-22
ronmental document if, with respect to such 23
proposed agency action, there is more than one 24
involved Federal agency; 25
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‘‘(B) request the participation of each co-1
operating agency at the earliest practicable 2
time; 3
‘‘(C) in preparing an environmental docu-4
ment, give consideration to any analysis or pro-5
posal created by a cooperating agency with ju-6
risdiction by law or a cooperating agency with 7
special expertise; 8
‘‘(D) develop a schedule, in consultation 9
with each involved cooperating agency, the ap-10
plicant, and such other entities as the lead 11
agency determines appropriate, for completion 12
of any environmental review, permit, or author-13
ization required to carry out the proposed agen-14
cy action; 15
‘‘(E) if the lead agency determines that a 16
review, permit, or authorization will not be com-17
pleted in accordance with the schedule devel-18
oped under subparagraph (D), notify the agen-19
cy responsible for issuing such review, permit, 20
or authorization of the discrepancy and request 21
that such agency take such measures as such 22
agency determines appropriate to comply with 23
such schedule; and 24
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‘‘(F) meet with a cooperating agency that 1
requests such a meeting. 2
‘‘(3) C
OOPERATING AGENCY .—The lead agency 3
may, with respect to a proposed agency action, des-4
ignate any involved Federal agency or a State, Trib-5
al, or local agency as a cooperating agency. A co-6
operating agency may, not later than a date speci-7
fied by the lead agency, submit comments to the 8
lead agency. Such comments shall be limited to mat-9
ters relating to the proposed agency action with re-10
spect to which such agency has special expertise or 11
jurisdiction by law with respect to an environmental 12
issue. 13
‘‘(4) R
EQUEST FOR DESIGNATION .—Any Fed-14
eral, State, Tribal, or local agency or person that is 15
substantially affected by the lack of a designation of 16
a lead agency with respect to a proposed agency ac-17
tion under paragraph (1) may submit a written re-18
quest for such a designation to an involved Federal 19
agency. An agency that receives a request under this 20
paragraph shall transmit such request to each in-21
volved Federal agency and to the Council. 22
‘‘(5) C
OUNCIL DESIGNATION.— 23
‘‘(A) R
EQUEST.—Not earlier than 45 days 24
after the date on which a request is submitted 25
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under paragraph (4), if no designation has been 1
made under paragraph (1), a Federal, State, 2
Tribal, or local agency or person that is sub-3
stantially affected by the lack of a designation 4
of a lead agency may request that the Council 5
designate a lead agency. Such request shall con-6
sist of— 7
‘‘(i) a precise description of the nature 8
and extent of the proposed agency action; 9
and 10
‘‘(ii) a detailed statement with respect 11
to each involved Federal agency and each 12
factor listed in paragraph (1) regarding 13
which agency should serve as lead agency. 14
‘‘(B) T
RANSMISSION.—The Council shall 15
transmit a request received under subparagraph 16
(A) to each involved Federal agency. 17
‘‘(C) R
ESPONSE.—An involved Federal 18
agency may, not later than 20 days after the 19
date of the submission of a request under sub-20
paragraph (A), submit to the Council a re-21
sponse to such request. 22
‘‘(D) D
ESIGNATION.—Not later than 40 23
days after the date of the submission of a re-24
quest under subparagraph (A), the Council 25
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shall designate the lead agency with respect to 1
the relevant proposed agency action. 2
‘‘(b) O
NEDOCUMENT.— 3
‘‘(1) D
OCUMENT.—To the extent practicable, if 4
there are 2 or more involved Federal agencies with 5
respect to a proposed agency action and the lead 6
agency has determined that an environmental docu-7
ment is required, such requirement shall be deemed 8
satisfied with respect to all involved Federal agencies 9
if the lead agency issues such an environmental doc-10
ument. 11
‘‘(2) C
ONSIDERATION TIMING .—In developing 12
an environmental document for a proposed agency 13
action, no involved Federal agency shall be required 14
to consider any information that becomes available 15
after the sooner of, as applicable— 16
‘‘(A) receipt of a complete application with 17
respect to such proposed agency action; or 18
‘‘(B) publication of a notice of intent or 19
decision to prepare an environmental impact 20
statement for such proposed agency action. 21
‘‘(3) S
COPE OF REVIEW.—In developing an en-22
vironmental document for a proposed agency action, 23
the lead agency and any other involved Federal 24
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agencies shall only consider the effects of the pro-1
posed agency action that— 2
‘‘(A) occur on Federal land; or 3
‘‘(B) are subject to Federal control and re-4
sponsibility. 5
‘‘(c) R
EQUEST FORPUBLICCOMMENT.—Each notice 6
of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 7
under section 102 shall include a request for public com-8
ment on alternatives or impacts and on relevant informa-9
tion, studies, or analyses with respect to the proposed 10
agency action. 11
‘‘(d) S
TATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND NEED.—Each 12
environmental impact statement shall include a statement 13
of purpose and need that briefly summarizes the under-14
lying purpose and need for the proposed agency action. 15
‘‘(e) E
STIMATEDTOTALCOST.—The cover sheet for 16
each environmental impact statement shall include a state-17
ment of the estimated total cost of preparing such environ-18
mental impact statement, including the costs of agency 19
full-time equivalent personnel hours, contractor costs, and 20
other direct costs. 21
‘‘(f) P
AGELIMITS.— 22
‘‘(1) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS .— 23
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 24
subparagraph (B), an environmental impact 25
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statement shall not exceed 150 pages, not in-1
cluding any citations or appendices. 2
‘‘(B) E
XTRAORDINARY COMPLEXITY .—An 3
environmental impact statement for a proposed 4
agency action of extraordinary complexity shall 5
not exceed 300 pages, not including any cita-6
tions or appendices. 7
‘‘(2) E
NVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS .—An en-8
vironmental assessment shall not exceed 75 pages, 9
not including any citations or appendices. 10
‘‘(g) S
PONSORPREPARATION.—A lead agency shall 11
allow a project sponsor to prepare an environmental as-12
sessment or an environmental impact statement upon re-13
quest of the project sponsor. Such agency may provide 14
such sponsor with appropriate guidance and assist in the 15
preparation. The lead agency shall independently evaluate 16
the environmental document and shall take responsibility 17
for the contents upon adoption. 18
‘‘(h) D
EADLINES.— 19
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-20
graph (2), with respect to a proposed agency action, 21
a lead agency shall complete, as applicable— 22
‘‘(A) the environmental impact statement 23
not later than the date that is 2 years after the 24
sooner of, as applicable— 25
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‘‘(i) the date on which such agency 1
determines that section 102(2)(C) requires 2
the issuance of an environmental impact 3
statement with respect to such action; 4
‘‘(ii) the date on which such agency 5
notifies the applicant that the application 6
to establish a right-of-way for such action 7
is complete; and 8
‘‘(iii) the date on which such agency 9
issues a notice of intent to prepare the en-10
vironmental impact statement for such ac-11
tion; and 12
‘‘(B) the environmental assessment not 13
later than the date that is 1 year after the 14
sooner of, as applicable— 15
‘‘(i) the date on which such agency 16
determines that section 106(b)(2) requires 17
the preparation of an environmental as-18
sessment with respect to such action; 19
‘‘(ii) the date on which such agency 20
notifies the applicant that the application 21
to establish a right-of-way for such action 22
is complete; and 23
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‘‘(iii) the date on which such agency 1
issues a notice of intent to prepare the en-2
vironmental assessment for such action. 3
‘‘(2) D
ELAY.—A lead agency that determines it 4
is not able to meet the deadline described in para-5
graph (1) may extend such deadline with the ap-6
proval of the applicant. If the applicant approves 7
such an extension, the lead agency shall establish a 8
new deadline that provides only so much additional 9
time as is necessary to complete such environmental 10
impact statement or environmental assessment. 11
‘‘(3) E
XPENDITURES FOR DELAY .—If a lead 12
agency is unable to meet the deadline described in 13
paragraph (1) or extended under paragraph (2), the 14
lead agency must pay $100 per day, to the extent 15
funding is provided in advance in an appropriations 16
Act, out of the office of the head of the department 17
of the lead agency to the applicant starting on the 18
first day immediately following the deadline de-19
scribed in paragraph (1) or extended under para-20
graph (2) up until the date that an applicant ap-21
proves a new deadline. This paragraph does not 22
apply when the lead agency misses a deadline solely 23
due to delays caused by litigation. 24
‘‘(i) R
EPORT.— 25
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each lead 1
agency shall annually submit to the Committee on 2
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives 3
and the Committee on Environment and Public 4
Works of the Senate a report that— 5
‘‘(A) identifies any environmental assess-6
ment and environmental impact statement that 7
such lead agency did not complete by the dead-8
line described in subsection (h); and 9
‘‘(B) provides an explanation for any fail-10
ure to meet such deadline. 11
‘‘(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—Each report submitted 12
under paragraph (1) shall identify, as applicable— 13
‘‘(A) the office, bureau, division, unit, or 14
other entity within the Federal agency respon-15
sible for each such environmental assessment 16
and environmental impact statement; 17
‘‘(B) the date on which— 18
‘‘(i) such lead agency notified the ap-19
plicant that the application to establish a 20
right-of-way for the major Federal action 21
is complete; 22
‘‘(ii) such lead agency began the 23
scoping for the major Federal action; or 24
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‘‘(iii) such lead agency issued a notice 1
of intent to prepare the environmental as-2
sessment or environmental impact state-3
ment for the major Federal action; and 4
‘‘(C) when such environmental assessment 5
and environmental impact statement is expected 6
to be complete. 7
‘‘SEC. 108. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 8
‘‘(a) L
IMITATIONS ON CLAIMS.—Notwithstanding 9
any other provision of law, a claim arising under Federal 10
law seeking judicial review of compliance with this Act, 11
of a determination made under this Act, or of Federal ac-12
tion resulting from a determination made under this Act, 13
shall be barred unless— 14
‘‘(1) in the case of a claim pertaining to a pro-15
posed agency action for which— 16
‘‘(A) an environmental document was pre-17
pared and an opportunity for comment was pro-18
vided; 19
‘‘(B) the claim is filed by a party that par-20
ticipated in the administrative proceedings re-21
garding such environmental document; and 22
‘‘(C) the claim— 23
‘‘(i) is filed by a party that submitted 24
a comment during the public comment pe-25
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riod for such administrative proceedings 1
and such comment was sufficiently detailed 2
to put the lead agency on notice of the 3
issue upon which the party seeks judicial 4
review; and 5
‘‘(ii) is related to such comment; 6
‘‘(2) except as provided in subsection (b), such 7
claim is filed not later than 120 days after the date 8
of publication of a notice in the Federal Register of 9
agency intent to carry out the proposed agency ac-10
tion; 11
‘‘(3) such claim is filed after the issuance of a 12
record of decision or other final agency action with 13
respect to the relevant proposed agency action; 14
‘‘(4) such claim does not challenge the estab-15
lishment or use of a categorical exclusion under sec-16
tion 102; and 17
‘‘(5) such claim concerns— 18
‘‘(A) an alternative included in the envi-19
ronmental document; or 20
‘‘(B) an environmental effect considered in 21
the environmental document. 22
‘‘(b) S
UPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 23
S
TATEMENT.— 24
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‘‘(1) SEPARATE FINAL AGENCY ACTION .—The 1
issuance of a Federal action resulting from a final 2
supplemental environmental impact statement shall 3
be considered a final agency action for the purposes 4
of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, separate 5
from the issuance of any previous environmental im-6
pact statement with respect to the same proposed 7
agency action. 8
‘‘(2) D
EADLINE FOR FILING A CLAIM .—A claim 9
seeking judicial review of a Federal action resulting 10
from a final supplemental environmental review 11
issued under section 102(2)(C) shall be barred un-12
less— 13
‘‘(A) such claim is filed within 120 days of 14
the date on which a notice of the Federal agen-15
cy action resulting from a final supplemental 16
environmental impact statement is issued; and 17
‘‘(B) such claim is based on information 18
contained in such supplemental environmental 19
impact statement that was not contained in a 20
previous environmental document pertaining to 21
the same proposed agency action. 22
‘‘(c) P
ROHIBITION ON INJUNCTIVERELIEF.—Not-23
withstanding any other provision of law, a violation of this 24
Act shall not constitute the basis for injunctive relief. 25
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‘‘(d) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-1
tion shall be construed to create a right of judicial review 2
or place any limit on filing a claim with respect to the 3
violation of the terms of a permit, license, or approval. 4
‘‘(e) R
EMAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision 5
of law, no proposed agency action for which an environ-6
mental document is required shall be vacated or otherwise 7
limited, delayed, or enjoined unless a court concludes al-8
lowing such proposed action will pose a risk of an immi-9
nent and substantial environmental harm and there is no 10
other equitable remedy available as a matter of law. 11
‘‘SEC. 109. DEFINITIONS. 12
‘‘In this title: 13
‘‘(1) C
ATEGORICAL EXCLUSION .—The term 14
‘categorical exclusion’ means a category of actions 15
that a Federal agency has determined normally does 16
not significantly affect the quality of the human en-17
vironment within the meaning of section 102(2)(C). 18
‘‘(2) C
OOPERATING AGENCY .—The term ‘co-19
operating agency’ means any Federal, State, Tribal, 20
or local agency that has been designated as a co-21
operating agency under section 107(a)(3). 22
‘‘(3) C
OUNCIL.—The term ‘Council’ means the 23
Council on Environmental Quality established in 24
title II. 25
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‘‘(4) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT .—The 1
term ‘environmental assessment’ means an environ-2
mental assessment prepared under section 3
106(b)(2). 4
‘‘(5) E
NVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENT .—The term 5
‘environmental document’ means an environmental 6
impact statement, an environmental assessment, or 7
a finding of no significant impact. 8
‘‘(6) E
NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT .— 9
The term ‘environmental impact statement’ means a 10
detailed written statement that is required by section 11
102(2)(C). 12
‘‘(7) F
INDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT .— 13
The term ‘finding of no significant impact’ means a 14
determination by a Federal agency that a proposed 15
agency action does not require the issuance of an en-16
vironmental impact statement. 17
‘‘(8) I
NVOLVED FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 18
‘involved Federal agency’ means an agency that, 19
with respect to a proposed agency action— 20
‘‘(A) proposed such action; or 21
‘‘(B) is involved in such action because 22
such action is directly related, through func-23
tional interdependence or geographic proximity, 24
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to an action such agency has taken or has pro-1
posed to take. 2
‘‘(9) L
EAD AGENCY.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 4
subparagraph (B), the term ‘lead agency’ 5
means, with respect to a proposed agency ac-6
tion— 7
‘‘(i) the agency that proposed such ac-8
tion; or 9
‘‘(ii) if there are 2 or more involved 10
Federal agencies with respect to such ac-11
tion, the agency designated under section 12
107(a)(1). 13
‘‘(B) S
PECIFICATION FOR MINERAL EX -14
PLORATION OR MINE PERMITS .—With respect 15
to a proposed mineral exploration or mine per-16
mit, the term ‘lead agency’ has the meaning 17
given such term in section 40206(a) of the In-18
frastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 19
‘‘(10) M
AJOR FEDERAL ACTION .— 20
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘major Fed-21
eral action’ means an action that the agency 22
carrying out such action determines is subject 23
to substantial Federal control and responsi-24
bility. 25
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‘‘(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘major Fed-1
eral action’ does not include— 2
‘‘(i) a non-Federal action— 3
‘‘(I) with no or minimal Federal 4
funding; 5
‘‘(II) with no or minimal Federal 6
involvement where a Federal agency 7
cannot control the outcome of the 8
project; or 9
‘‘(III) that does not include Fed-10
eral land; 11
‘‘(ii) funding assistance solely in the 12
form of general revenue sharing funds 13
which do not provide Federal agency com-14
pliance or enforcement responsibility over 15
the subsequent use of such funds; 16
‘‘(iii) loans, loan guarantees, or other 17
forms of financial assistance where a Fed-18
eral agency does not exercise sufficient 19
control and responsibility over the effect of 20
the action; 21
‘‘(iv) farm ownership and operating 22
loan guarantees by the Farm Service 23
Agency pursuant to sections 305 and 311 24
through 319 of the Consolidated Farmers 25
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Home Administration Act of 1961 (7 1
U.S.C. 1925 and 1941 through 1949); 2
‘‘(v) business loan guarantees pro-3
vided by the Small Business Administra-4
tion pursuant to section 7(a) or (b) and of 5
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 6
636(a)), or title V of the Small Business 7
Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695 et 8
seq.); 9
‘‘(vi) bringing judicial or administra-10
tive civil or criminal enforcement actions; 11
or 12
‘‘(vii) extraterritorial activities or deci-13
sions, which means agency activities or de-14
cisions with effects located entirely outside 15
of the jurisdiction of the United States. 16
‘‘(C) A
DDITIONAL EXCLUSIONS .—An agen-17
cy action may not be determined to be a major 18
Federal action on the basis of— 19
‘‘(i) an interstate effect of the action 20
or related project; or 21
‘‘(ii) the provision of Federal funds 22
for the action or related project. 23
‘‘(11) M
INERAL EXPLORATION OR MINE PER -24
MIT.—The term ‘mineral exploration or mine permit’ 25
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has the meaning given such term in section 1
40206(a) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 2
Act. 3
‘‘(12) P
ROPOSAL.—The term ‘proposal’ means 4
a proposed action at a stage when an agency has a 5
goal, is actively preparing to make a decision on one 6
or more alternative means of accomplishing that 7
goal, and can meaningfully evaluate its effects. 8
‘‘(13) R
EASONABLY FORESEEABLE .—The term 9
‘reasonably foreseeable’ means likely to occur— 10
‘‘(A) not later than 10 years after the lead 11
agency begins preparing the environmental doc-12
ument; and 13
‘‘(B) in an area directly affected by the 14
proposed agency action such that an individual 15
of ordinary prudence would take such occur-16
rence into account in reaching a decision. 17
‘‘(14) S
PECIAL EXPERTISE.—The term ‘special 18
expertise’ means statutory responsibility, agency 19
mission, or related program experience.’’. 20
SEC. 3. E–NEPA. 21
(a) P
ERMITTINGPORTALSTUDY.—The Council on 22
Environmental Quality shall conduct a study and submit 23
a report to Congress within 1 year of the enactment of 24
this Act on the potential to create an online permitting 25
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portal for permits that require review under section 1
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 2
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) that would— 3
(1) allow applicants to— 4
(A) submit required documents or mate-5
rials for their application in one unified portal; 6
(B) upload additional documents as re-7
quired by the applicable agency; and 8
(C) track the progress of individual appli-9
cations; 10
(2) enhance interagency coordination in con-11
sultation by— 12
(A) allowing for comments in one unified 13
portal; 14
(B) centralizing data necessary for reviews; 15
and 16
(C) streamlining communications between 17
other agencies and the applicant; and 18
(3) boost transparency in agency decision-19
making. 20
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 21
authorized to be appropriated $500,000 for the Council 22
on Environmental Quality to carry out the study directed 23
by this section. 24
Æ
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