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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5263 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5263

 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

                           September 25, 2024

    Mr. Braun (for himself, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Risch, and Mr. Crapo) 
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.

    (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) Report Required.--Beginning on July 1, 2025, the Council on 
Environmental Quality (referred to in this section as the `Council') 
shall annually publish on the website of the Council, and submit to 
Congress, a report on--
            ``(1) each cause of action based on alleged non-compliance 
        with this Act filed during the 1-year period ending on June 1 
        of the calendar year in which the report is submitted, which 
        shall identify--
                    ``(A) with respect to each cause of action, the 
                lead defendant Federal agency and the lead plaintiff;
                    ``(B) the number of causes of action, disaggregated 
                by the lead defendant Federal 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 based on alleged non-compliance 
                with this Act filed during that period, including 
                whether--
                            ``(i) the cause of action resulted in the 
                        major Federal action being reversed;
                            ``(ii) the lead defendant Federal agency 
                        was allowed to move forward with the major 
                        Federal action;
                            ``(iii) the court issued a ruling directing 
                        the lead defendant Federal agency to take 
                        additional measures to be in compliance with 
                        this Act;
                            ``(iv) the lead plaintiff and the lead 
                        defendant Federal agency entered into a 
                        settlement agreement; and
                            ``(v) the cause of action is still in 
                        progress;
            ``(2) the length of environmental impact statements 
        prepared pursuant to section 102(2)(C) and environmental 
        assessments prepared pursuant to section 106(b)(2) during the 
        5-year period ending on June 1 of the calendar year in which 
        the report is submitted, which shall include--
                    ``(A) the average and median page count of each 
                draft and final environmental impact statement 
                (including the appendix) published in the Federal 
                Register during that period, including the page counts 
                disaggregated by quartiles;
                    ``(B) the average and median page count of each 
                final environmental assessment (including the appendix) 
                published in the Federal Register during that period, 
                including the page counts disaggregated by quartiles;
                    ``(C) the number of draft and final environmental 
                impact statements published in the Federal Register 
                during that period, disaggregated by lead Federal 
                agency and subagency, as applicable;
                    ``(D) the number of final environmental assessments 
                published in the Federal Register during that period, 
                disaggregated by lead Federal agency and subagency, as 
                applicable;
                    ``(E) a description of trends in average and median 
                page count of draft and final environmental impact 
                statements published in the Federal Register during 
                that period compared those identified in prior reports 
                published by the Council under this section; and
                    ``(F) a description of trends in average and median 
                page count of final environmental assessments published 
                in the Federal Register during that period compared to 
                those identified in prior reports published by the 
                Council under this section; and
            ``(3) the timelines to complete environmental reviews 
        pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during the 10-year period ending 
        on June 1 of the calendar year in which the report is 
        submitted, which shall include--
                    ``(A) with respect to each major Federal action 
                commenced during that period, the date on which, as 
                applicable--
                            ``(i) the notice of intent to prepare the 
                        environmental impact statement was published in 
                        the Federal Register;
                            ``(ii) the draft environmental impact 
                        statement was published in the Federal 
                        Register;
                            ``(iii) the final environmental impact 
                        statement was published in the Federal 
                        Register; and
                            ``(iv) the record of decision was published 
                        in the Federal Register;
                    ``(B) the average and median publication timelines 
                during that period for each document described in 
                subparagraph (A); and
                    ``(C) a description of trends in completion times 
                during that period for those documents compared to the 
                documents identified in prior reports published by the 
                Council under this section.
    ``(b) Public Availability of Data.--The Council shall publish with 
each report published under subsection (a) the underlying data used to 
prepare the report.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 204 of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4344) is amended--
            (1) by striking paragraph (1); and
            (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (8) as 
        paragraphs (1) through (7), respectively.
                                 <all>
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