Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB573 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 573
5	5	To require the Council on Environmental Quality to publish an annual report
6	6	on environmental reviews and causes of action based on alleged non-
7	7	compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and
8	8	for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY21, 2025
11	11	Mr. Y
12	12	AKYM(for himself and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following bill;
13	13	which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To require the Council on Environmental Quality to publish
16	16	an annual report on environmental reviews and causes
17	17	of action based on alleged non-compliance with the Na-
18	18	tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and for other
19	19	purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Studying NEPA’s Im-4
24	24	pact on Projects Act’’. 5
25	25	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
26	26	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
27	27	•HR 573 IH
28	28	SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT ON NEPA’S IMPACT ON PROJECTS. 1
29	29	Section 201 of the National Environmental Policy 2
30	30	Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4341) is amended to read as fol-3
31	31	lows: 4
32	32	‘‘SEC. 201. ANNUAL REPORT ON NEPA’S IMPACT ON 5
33	33	PROJECTS. 6
34	34	‘‘(a) R
35	35	EPORTREQUIRED.—Beginning July 1, 2025, 7
36	36	the Council on Environmental Quality shall annually pub-8
37	37	lish on the website of the Council on Environmental Qual-9
38	38	ity, and submit to the Committee on Natural Resources 10
39	39	of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 11
40	40	Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, a report 12
41	41	on— 13
42	42	‘‘(1) each cause of action based on alleged non- 14
43	43	compliance with this Act that was active during the 15
44	44	period beginning June 1 of the preceding year and 16
45	45	ending June 1 of the current year, which shall iden-17
46	46	tify— 18
47	47	‘‘(A) with respect to each such cause of ac-19
48	48	tion— 20
49	49	‘‘(i) the defendant lead agency and 21
50	50	the lead plaintiff; and 22
51	51	‘‘(ii) the court in which the cause of 23
52	52	action was brought and any court to which 24
53	53	a decision on the cause of action was ap-25
54	54	pealed; 26
55	55	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
56	56	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
57	57	•HR 573 IH
58	58	‘‘(B) the number of such causes of action, 1
59	59	disaggregated by the defendant lead agency; 2
60	60	‘‘(C) the alleged basis for each such cause 3
61	61	of action, disaggregated by type; and 4
62	62	‘‘(D) the status and outcome, if applicable, 5
63	63	of each cause of action based on alleged non- 6
64	64	compliance with this Act that was active during 7
65	65	the period beginning June 1 of the preceding 8
66	66	year and ending June 1 of the current year, in-9
67	67	cluding whether— 10
68	68	‘‘(i) the cause of action resulted in the 11
69	69	major Federal action being reversed; 12
70	70	‘‘(ii) the defendant lead agency was 13
71	71	allowed to move forward with the major 14
72	72	Federal action; 15
73	73	‘‘(iii) the court issued a ruling direct-16
74	74	ing the defendant lead agency to take addi-17
75	75	tional measures to be in compliance; 18
76	76	‘‘(iv) the lead plaintiff and the defend-19
77	77	ant lead agency settled amongst them-20
78	78	selves; 21
79	79	‘‘(v) the cause of action is still active; 22
80	80	and 23
81	81	‘‘(vi) the lead plaintiff received an 24
82	82	award, including an award of costs pursu-25
83	83	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
84	84	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
85	85	•HR 573 IH
86	86	ant to section 2412 of title 28, United 1
87	87	States Code; 2
88	88	‘‘(2) the length of environmental impact state-3
89	89	ments and environmental assessments prepared pur-4
90	90	suant to section 102(2)(C) during the period of 5 5
91	91	years that ends on June 1 of the current year, which 6
92	92	shall include— 7
93	93	‘‘(A) the average and median page count of 8
94	94	each draft and final environmental impact 9
95	95	statement and environmental assessment (in-10
96	96	cluding the appendix) published in the Federal 11
97	97	Register during such period of 5 years, includ-12
98	98	ing such page counts disaggregated by quar-13
99	99	tiles; 14
100	100	‘‘(B) the number of draft and final envi-15
101	101	ronmental impact statements and environ-16
102	102	mental assessments published in the Federal 17
103	103	Register during such period of 5 years, 18
104	104	disaggregated by defendant lead agency and 19
105	105	subagency as applicable; and 20
106	106	‘‘(C) a description of trends in average and 21
107	107	median page count of draft and final environ-22
108	108	mental impact statements and environmental 23
109	109	assessments published in the Federal Register 24
110	110	during such period of 5 years compared to prior 25
111	111	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
112	112	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
113	113	•HR 573 IH
114	114	reports published by the Council on Environ-1
115	115	mental Quality; 2
116	116	‘‘(3) the total cost to prepare the environmental 3
117	117	impact statements and environmental assessments 4
118	118	described in paragraph (2), including— 5
119	119	‘‘(A) the full-time equivalent personnel 6
120	120	hour costs, contractor costs, and other direct 7
121	121	costs of the lead agency that prepared the envi-8
122	122	ronmental impact statement or environmental 9
123	123	assessment; and 10
124	124	‘‘(B) if practicable, and noted where not 11
125	125	practicable, the costs incurred by cooperating 12
126	126	agencies, participating agencies, applicants, and 13
127	127	contractors; and 14
128	128	‘‘(4) the timelines to complete environmental re-15
129	129	views pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during the pe-16
130	130	riod of 10 years that ends on June 1 of the current 17
131	131	year, which shall include— 18
132	132	‘‘(A) with respect to each major Federal 19
133	133	action commenced during such period of 10 20
134	134	years, the date on which (as applicable)— 21
135	135	‘‘(i) the project sponsor submitted an 22
136	136	application for any permit or other author-23
137	137	ization for the project; 24
138	138	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
139	139	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
140	140	•HR 573 IH
141	141	‘‘(ii) the lead agency began the 1
142	142	scoping; 2
143	143	‘‘(iii) the notice of intent to prepare 3
144	144	the environmental impact statement was 4
145	145	published in the Federal Register; 5
146	146	‘‘(iv) the draft environmental impact 6
147	147	statement was published in the Federal 7
148	148	Register; 8
149	149	‘‘(v) the final environmental impact 9
150	150	statement was published in the Federal 10
151	151	Register; 11
152	152	‘‘(vi) the record of decision was pub-12
153	153	lished in the Federal Register; and 13
154	154	‘‘(vii) the lead agency provided to the 14
155	155	project sponsor notice to proceed on the 15
156	156	project; 16
157	157	‘‘(B) the average and median publication 17
158	158	timelines during such period of 10 years for 18
159	159	each document described in subparagraph (A); 19
160	160	and 20
161	161	‘‘(C) a description of trends in completion 21
162	162	times during such period of 10 years for such 22
163	163	documents compared to prior reports published 23
164	164	by the Council on Environmental Quality. 24
165	165	‘‘(b) F
166	166	ORMAT.— 25
167	167	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
168	168	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
169	169	•HR 573 IH
170	170	‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The information included 1
171	171	in each report required under subsection (a) shall be 2
172	172	disaggregated by the type of project and covered sec-3
173	173	tor. 4
174	174	‘‘(2) C
175	175	OVERED SECTORS.—In this subsection, 5
176	176	the term ‘covered sector’ means any of the following 6
177	177	sectors: 7
178	178	‘‘(A) Aviation and space. 8
179	179	‘‘(B) Broadband. 9
180	180	‘‘(C) Carbon capture and sequestration. 10
181	181	‘‘(D) Conventional energy production. 11
182	182	‘‘(E) Renewable energy production. 12
183	183	‘‘(F) Electricity transmission. 13
184	184	‘‘(G) Manufacturing. 14
185	185	‘‘(H) Mining. 15
186	186	‘‘(I) Pipelines. 16
187	187	‘‘(J) Ports and waterways. 17
188	188	‘‘(K) Surface transportation. 18
189	189	‘‘(L) Information technology infrastruc-19
190	190	ture. 20
191	191	‘‘(M) Water resources. 21
192	192	‘‘(N) Forestry. 22
193	193	‘‘(O) Any other sector as determined by 23
194	194	the Council on Environmental Quality. 24
195	195	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
196	196	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
197	197	•HR 573 IH
198	198	‘‘(c) PUBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.—The Council 1
199	199	on Environmental Quality shall publish with each report 2
200	200	published under subsection (a) the underlying data used 3
201	201	to prepare each such report and include any citations or 4
202	202	other information necessary for the public to locate 5
203	203	records related to the court proceedings for any cause of 6
204	204	action described in subsection (a)(1).’’. 7
205	205	Æ
206	206	VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:17 Feb 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H573.IH H573
207	207	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS