| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 1191 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to require the |
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| 6 | 6 | | Council on Environmental Quality to publish an annual report on envi- |
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| 7 | 7 | | ronmental reviews and causes of action based on alleged non-compliance |
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| 8 | 8 | | with that Act, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 10 | 10 | | MARCH27, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. C |
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| 12 | 12 | | URTIS(for himself and Mr. KELLY) introduced the following bill; which |
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| 13 | 13 | | was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public |
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| 14 | 14 | | Works |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 |
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| 17 | 17 | | to require the Council on Environmental Quality to pub- |
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| 18 | 18 | | lish an annual report on environmental reviews and |
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| 19 | 19 | | causes of action based on alleged non-compliance with |
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| 20 | 20 | | that Act, and for other purposes. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 22 | 22 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 24 | 24 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Studying NEPA’s Im-4 |
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| 25 | 25 | | pact on Projects Act’’. 5 |
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| 27 | 27 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •S 1191 IS |
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| 29 | 29 | | SEC. 2. CEQ ANNUAL REPORT ON NEPA’S IMPACT ON 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | PROJECTS. 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (a) I |
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| 32 | 32 | | NGENERAL.—Section 201 of the National Envi-3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4341) is amend-4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ed to read as follows: 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | ‘‘SEC. 201. CEQ ANNUAL REPORT. 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | ‘‘(a) T |
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| 37 | 37 | | ITLEI DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the 7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | terms ‘categorical exclusion’, ‘cooperating agency’, ‘Coun-8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | cil’, ‘environmental assessment’, ‘environmental impact 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | statement’, ‘participating Federal agency’, ‘lead agency’, 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | and ‘major Federal action’ have the meanings given those 11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | terms in section 111. 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ‘‘(b) R |
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| 44 | 44 | | EPORTREQUIRED.—Beginning on July 1, 13 |
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| 45 | 45 | | 2025, the Council shall annually publish on the website 14 |
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| 46 | 46 | | of the Council, and submit to the Committee on Environ-15 |
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| 47 | 47 | | ment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee 16 |
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| 48 | 48 | | on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, a 17 |
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| 49 | 49 | | report on— 18 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ‘‘(1) each cause of action based on alleged non- 19 |
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| 51 | 51 | | compliance with this Act that was active during the 20 |
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| 52 | 52 | | period beginning on June 1 of the preceding year 21 |
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| 53 | 53 | | and ending on June 1 of the current year (referred 22 |
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| 54 | 54 | | to in this subsection as the ‘covered year’), which 23 |
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| 55 | 55 | | shall identify— 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | ‘‘(A) with respect to each cause of action— 25 |
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| 58 | 58 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | •S 1191 IS |
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| 60 | 60 | | ‘‘(i) the defendant lead agency and 1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | the lead plaintiff; and 2 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(ii)(I) the court in which the cause 3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | of action was brought; and 4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ‘‘(II) any court to which a decision on 5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | the cause of action was appealed; 6 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ‘‘(B) the number of causes of action, 7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | disaggregated by the defendant lead agency; 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ‘‘(C) the alleged basis for each cause of ac-9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | tion, disaggregated by type; and 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ‘‘(D) the status and outcome, if applicable, 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | of each cause of action, including whether— 12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | ‘‘(i) the cause of action resulted in the 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | major Federal action being reversed; 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ‘‘(ii) the defendant lead agency was 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | allowed to move forward with the major 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | Federal action; 17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ‘‘(iii) the court issued a ruling direct-18 |
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| 78 | 78 | | ing the defendant lead agency to take addi-19 |
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| 79 | 79 | | tional measures to be in compliance with 20 |
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| 80 | 80 | | this Act; 21 |
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| 81 | 81 | | ‘‘(iv) the lead plaintiff and the defend-22 |
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| 82 | 82 | | ant lead agency entered into a settlement 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | agreement; 24 |
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| 85 | 85 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 86 | 86 | | •S 1191 IS |
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| 87 | 87 | | ‘‘(v) the cause of action is still active; 1 |
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| 88 | 88 | | and 2 |
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| 89 | 89 | | ‘‘(vi) the lead plaintiff received an 3 |
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| 90 | 90 | | award, including an award of costs pursu-4 |
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| 91 | 91 | | ant to section 2412 of title 28, United 5 |
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| 92 | 92 | | States Code; 6 |
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| 93 | 93 | | ‘‘(2) the length of environmental impact state-7 |
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| 94 | 94 | | ments and environmental assessments prepared pur-8 |
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| 95 | 95 | | suant to sections 102(2)(C) and 106(b)(2), respec-9 |
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| 96 | 96 | | tively, during the covered year, which shall include— 10 |
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| 97 | 97 | | ‘‘(A) the average and median page count of 11 |
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| 98 | 98 | | each draft and final environmental impact 12 |
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| 99 | 99 | | statement and environmental assessment (in-13 |
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| 100 | 100 | | cluding the appendix) published in the Federal 14 |
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| 101 | 101 | | Register during that covered year, including the 15 |
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| 102 | 102 | | page counts disaggregated by quartiles; 16 |
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| 103 | 103 | | ‘‘(B) the number of draft and final envi-17 |
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| 104 | 104 | | ronmental impact statements and environ-18 |
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| 105 | 105 | | mental assessments published in the Federal 19 |
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| 106 | 106 | | Register during that covered year, 20 |
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| 107 | 107 | | disaggregated by defendant lead agency and 21 |
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| 108 | 108 | | subagency, as applicable; and 22 |
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| 109 | 109 | | ‘‘(C) a description of trends in average and 23 |
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| 110 | 110 | | median page counts of draft and final environ-24 |
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| 111 | 111 | | mental impact statements and environmental 25 |
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| 112 | 112 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:57 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1191.IS S1191 |
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| 113 | 113 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 114 | 114 | | •S 1191 IS |
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| 115 | 115 | | assessments published in the Federal Register 1 |
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| 116 | 116 | | during that covered year as compared to prior 2 |
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| 117 | 117 | | reports published by the Council; 3 |
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| 118 | 118 | | ‘‘(3) the total cost to prepare the environmental 4 |
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| 119 | 119 | | impact statements and environmental assessments 5 |
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| 120 | 120 | | described in paragraph (2), including— 6 |
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| 121 | 121 | | ‘‘(A) the full-time equivalent personnel 7 |
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| 122 | 122 | | hour costs, contractor costs, and other direct 8 |
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| 123 | 123 | | costs of the lead agency that prepared the envi-9 |
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| 124 | 124 | | ronmental impact statement or environmental 10 |
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| 125 | 125 | | assessment; and 11 |
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| 126 | 126 | | ‘‘(B) if practicable, and noted where not 12 |
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| 127 | 127 | | practicable, the costs incurred by cooperating 13 |
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| 128 | 128 | | agencies, participating Federal agencies, appli-14 |
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| 129 | 129 | | cants, and contractors; 15 |
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| 130 | 130 | | ‘‘(4) the timelines to complete environmental 16 |
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| 131 | 131 | | impact statements pursuant to section 102(2)(C) 17 |
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| 132 | 132 | | during the covered year, which shall include— 18 |
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| 133 | 133 | | ‘‘(A) with respect to each major Federal 19 |
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| 134 | 134 | | action commenced during that covered year, the 20 |
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| 135 | 135 | | date on which, as applicable— 21 |
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| 136 | 136 | | ‘‘(i) the project sponsor submitted an 22 |
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| 137 | 137 | | application for any permit or other author-23 |
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| 138 | 138 | | ization for the project; 24 |
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| 140 | 140 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 6 |
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| 141 | 141 | | •S 1191 IS |
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| 142 | 142 | | ‘‘(ii) the lead agency began scoping 1 |
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| 143 | 143 | | for the project; 2 |
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| 144 | 144 | | ‘‘(iii) the notice of intent to prepare 3 |
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| 145 | 145 | | the environmental impact statement was 4 |
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| 146 | 146 | | published in the Federal Register; 5 |
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| 147 | 147 | | ‘‘(iv) the draft environmental impact 6 |
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| 148 | 148 | | statement was published in the Federal 7 |
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| 149 | 149 | | Register; 8 |
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| 150 | 150 | | ‘‘(v) the final environmental impact 9 |
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| 151 | 151 | | statement was published in the Federal 10 |
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| 152 | 152 | | Register; 11 |
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| 153 | 153 | | ‘‘(vi) the record of decision was pub-12 |
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| 154 | 154 | | lished in the Federal Register; and 13 |
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| 155 | 155 | | ‘‘(vii) the lead agency provided to the 14 |
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| 156 | 156 | | project sponsor notice to proceed on the 15 |
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| 157 | 157 | | project; 16 |
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| 158 | 158 | | ‘‘(B) the average and median publication 17 |
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| 159 | 159 | | timelines during that covered year for each doc-18 |
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| 160 | 160 | | ument described in subparagraph (A); 19 |
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| 161 | 161 | | ‘‘(C) a description of trends in completion 20 |
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| 162 | 162 | | times during that covered year for those docu-21 |
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| 163 | 163 | | ments as compared to prior reports published 22 |
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| 164 | 164 | | by the Council; and 23 |
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| 166 | 166 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 7 |
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| 167 | 167 | | •S 1191 IS |
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| 168 | 168 | | ‘‘(D) the number of Federal actions evalu-1 |
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| 169 | 169 | | ated in each document described in subpara-2 |
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| 170 | 170 | | graph (A) during that covered year; and 3 |
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| 171 | 171 | | ‘‘(5) a comprehensive list of categorical exclu-4 |
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| 172 | 172 | | sions listed in the implementing regulations for this 5 |
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| 173 | 173 | | Act of each Federal agency, which shall identify— 6 |
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| 174 | 174 | | ‘‘(A) the total number of categorical exclu-7 |
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| 175 | 175 | | sions listed in those regulations; and 8 |
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| 176 | 176 | | ‘‘(B) the total number of categorical exclu-9 |
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| 177 | 177 | | sions established, adopted, or revised by each 10 |
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| 178 | 178 | | Federal agency during the covered year. 11 |
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| 179 | 179 | | ‘‘(c) F |
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| 180 | 180 | | ORMAT.— 12 |
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| 181 | 181 | | ‘‘(1) D |
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| 182 | 182 | | EFINITION OF COVERED SECTOR .—In 13 |
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| 183 | 183 | | this subsection, the term ‘covered sector’ means any 14 |
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| 184 | 184 | | of the following sectors: 15 |
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| 185 | 185 | | ‘‘(A) Aviation and space. 16 |
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| 186 | 186 | | ‘‘(B) Broadband. 17 |
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| 187 | 187 | | ‘‘(C) Carbon capture and sequestration. 18 |
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| 188 | 188 | | ‘‘(D) Conventional energy production. 19 |
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| 189 | 189 | | ‘‘(E) Renewable energy production. 20 |
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| 190 | 190 | | ‘‘(F) Electricity transmission. 21 |
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| 191 | 191 | | ‘‘(G) Manufacturing. 22 |
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| 192 | 192 | | ‘‘(H) Mining. 23 |
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| 193 | 193 | | ‘‘(I) Pipelines. 24 |
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| 194 | 194 | | ‘‘(J) Ports and waterways. 25 |
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| 196 | 196 | | mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 8 |
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| 197 | 197 | | •S 1191 IS |
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| 198 | 198 | | ‘‘(K) Surface transportation. 1 |
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| 199 | 199 | | ‘‘(L) Information technology infrastruc-2 |
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| 200 | 200 | | ture. 3 |
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| 201 | 201 | | ‘‘(M) Water resources. 4 |
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| 202 | 202 | | ‘‘(N) Forestry. 5 |
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| 203 | 203 | | ‘‘(O) Any other sector, as determined by 6 |
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| 204 | 204 | | the Council. 7 |
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| 205 | 205 | | ‘‘(2) D |
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| 206 | 206 | | ISAGGREGATION.—The information in-8 |
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| 207 | 207 | | cluded in each report required under subsection (b) 9 |
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| 208 | 208 | | shall be disaggregated by the type of project and 10 |
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| 209 | 209 | | covered sector. 11 |
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| 210 | 210 | | ‘‘(d) P |
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| 211 | 211 | | UBLICAVAILABILITY OFDATA.—The Council 12 |
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| 212 | 212 | | shall publish with each report published under subsection 13 |
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| 213 | 213 | | (b) the underlying data used to prepare the report and 14 |
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| 214 | 214 | | include any citations or other information necessary for 15 |
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| 215 | 215 | | the public to locate records relating to the court pro-16 |
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| 216 | 216 | | ceedings for any cause of action described in paragraph 17 |
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| 217 | 217 | | (1) of that subsection.’’. 18 |
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| 218 | 218 | | (b) C |
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| 219 | 219 | | ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 204 of the 19 |
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| 220 | 220 | | National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 20 |
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| 221 | 221 | | 4344) is amended by striking paragraph (1) and inserting 21 |
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| 222 | 222 | | the following: 22 |
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| 223 | 223 | | ‘‘(1) to prepare the report required under sec-23 |
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| 224 | 224 | | tion 201;’’. 24 |
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| 225 | 225 | | Æ |
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