119-s1191

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1191 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

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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