[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1191 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1191
To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to require the
Council on Environmental Quality to publish an annual report on
environmental reviews and causes of action based on alleged non-
compliance with that Act, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 27, 2025
Mr. Curtis (for himself and Mr. Kelly) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to require the
Council on Environmental Quality to publish an annual report on
environmental reviews and causes of action based on alleged non-
compliance with that Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Studying NEPA's Impact on Projects
Act''.
SEC. 2. CEQ ANNUAL REPORT ON NEPA'S IMPACT ON PROJECTS.
(a) In General.--Section 201 of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4341) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 201. CEQ ANNUAL REPORT.
``(a) Title I Definitions.--In this section, the terms `categorical
exclusion', `cooperating agency', `Council', `environmental
assessment', `environmental impact statement', `participating Federal
agency', `lead agency', and `major Federal action' have the meanings
given those terms in section 111.
``(b) Report Required.--Beginning on July 1, 2025, the Council
shall annually publish on the website of the Council, and submit to the
Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, a
report on--
``(1) each cause of action based on alleged non-compliance
with this Act that was active during the period beginning on
June 1 of the preceding year and ending on June 1 of the
current year (referred to in this subsection as the `covered
year'), which shall identify--
``(A) with respect to each cause of action--
``(i) the defendant lead agency and the
lead plaintiff; and
``(ii)(I) the court in which the cause of
action was brought; and
``(II) any court to which a decision on the
cause of action was appealed;
``(B) the number of causes of action, disaggregated
by the defendant lead agency;
``(C) the alleged basis for each cause of action,
disaggregated by type; and
``(D) the status and outcome, if applicable, of
each cause of action, including whether--
``(i) the cause of action resulted in the
major Federal action being reversed;
``(ii) the defendant lead agency was
allowed to move forward with the major Federal
action;
``(iii) the court issued a ruling directing
the defendant lead agency to take additional
measures to be in compliance with this Act;
``(iv) the lead plaintiff and the defendant
lead agency entered into a settlement
agreement;
``(v) the cause of action is still active;
and
``(vi) the lead plaintiff received an
award, including an award of costs pursuant to
section 2412 of title 28, United States Code;
``(2) the length of environmental impact statements and
environmental assessments prepared pursuant to sections
102(2)(C) and 106(b)(2), respectively, during the covered year,
which shall include--
``(A) the average and median page count of each
draft and final environmental impact statement and
environmental assessment (including the appendix)
published in the Federal Register during that covered
year, including the page counts disaggregated by
quartiles;
``(B) the number of draft and final environmental
impact statements and environmental assessments
published in the Federal Register during that covered
year, disaggregated by defendant lead agency and
subagency, as applicable; and
``(C) a description of trends in average and median
page counts of draft and final environmental impact
statements and environmental assessments published in
the Federal Register during that covered year as
compared to prior reports published by the Council;
``(3) the total cost to prepare the environmental impact
statements and environmental assessments 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 or environmental assessment; and
``(B) if practicable, and noted where not
practicable, the costs incurred by cooperating
agencies, participating Federal agencies, applicants,
and contractors;
``(4) the timelines to complete environmental impact
statements pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during the covered
year, which shall include--
``(A) with respect to each major Federal action
commenced during that covered year, 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 scoping for
the project;
``(iii) the notice of intent to prepare the
environmental impact statement was published in
the Federal Register;
``(iv) the draft environmental impact
statement was published in the Federal
Register;
``(v) the final environmental impact
statement was published in the Federal
Register;
``(vi) the record of decision was published
in the Federal Register; and
``(vii) the lead agency provided to the
project sponsor notice to proceed on the
project;
``(B) the average and median publication timelines
during that covered year for each document described in
subparagraph (A);
``(C) a description of trends in completion times
during that covered year for those documents as
compared to prior reports published by the Council; and
``(D) the number of Federal actions evaluated in
each document described in subparagraph (A) during that
covered year; and
``(5) a comprehensive list of categorical exclusions listed
in the implementing regulations for this Act of each Federal
agency, which shall identify--
``(A) the total number of categorical exclusions
listed in those regulations; and
``(B) the total number of categorical exclusions
established, adopted, or revised by each Federal agency
during the covered year.
``(c) Format.--
``(1) Definition of covered sector.--In this subsection,
the term `covered sector' means any of the following sectors:
``(A) Aviation and space.
``(B) Broadband.
``(C) Carbon capture and sequestration.
``(D) Conventional energy production.
``(E) Renewable energy production.
``(F) Electricity transmission.
``(G) Manufacturing.
``(H) Mining.
``(I) Pipelines.
``(J) Ports and waterways.
``(K) Surface transportation.
``(L) Information technology infrastructure.
``(M) Water resources.
``(N) Forestry.
``(O) Any other sector, as determined by the
Council.
``(2) Disaggregation.--The information included in each
report required under subsection (b) shall be disaggregated by
the type of project and covered sector.
``(d) Public Availability of Data.--The Council shall publish with
each report published under subsection (b) the underlying data used to
prepare the report and include any citations or other information
necessary for the public to locate records relating to the court
proceedings for any cause of action described in paragraph (1) of that
subsection.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 204 of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4344) is amended by
striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
``(1) to prepare the report required under section 201;''.
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