I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2497 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a program to eliminate 

duplicative environmental reviews and approvals under State and Federal 

law of rail and highway projects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2015 

Mr. DENHAM (for himself, Mrs. MIMI WALTERS of California, Mr. COOK, Mr. 

LAMALFA, Mr. ISSA, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. 

FARENTHOLD, Mr. HARDY, and Mr. NUNES) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in 

addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a 

period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a 

program to eliminate duplicative environmental reviews 

and approvals under State and Federal law of rail and 

highway projects, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NEPA Reciprocity 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. USE OF ALTERNATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW 

2 AND APPROVAL PROCEDURES UNDER STATE 

3 LAWS FOR RAIL AND HIGHWAY PROJECTS. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

6 a program to eliminate duplicative environmental re7 views and approvals under State and Federal law of 

8 projects. Under this program, a State may use State 

9 laws and procedures to conduct reviews and make 

10 approvals in lieu of Federal environmental laws and 

11 regulations, consistent with the provisions of this 

12 section. 

13 (2) PARTICIPATING STATES.—All States are eli14 gible to participate in the program. 

15 (3) SCOPE OF ALTERNATIVE REVIEW AND AP16 PROVAL PROCEDURES.—For purposes of this sec17 tion, alternative environmental review and approval 

18 procedures may include one or more of the following: 

19 (A) Substitution of one or more State envi20 ronmental laws for one or more Federal envi21 ronmental laws, if the Secretary determines in 

22 accordance with this section that the State envi23 ronmental laws provide environmental protec24 tion and opportunities for public involvement 

25 that are substantially equivalent to the applica26 ble Federal environmental laws. 


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1 (B) Substitution of one or more State reg2 ulations for Federal regulations implementing 

3 one or more Federal environmental laws, if the 

4 Secretary determines in accordance with this 

5 section that the State regulations provide envi6 ronmental protection and opportunities for pub7 lic involvement that are substantially equivalent 

8 to the Federal regulations. 

9 (b) APPLICATION.—To participate in the program, a 

10 State shall submit to the Secretary an application con11 taining such information as the Secretary may require, in12 cluding— 

13 (1) a full and complete description of the pro14 posed alternative environmental review and approval 

15 procedures of the State; 

16 (2) for each State law or regulation included in 

17 the proposed alternative environmental review and 

18 approval procedures of the State, an explanation of 

19 the basis for concluding that the law or regulation 

20 meets the requirements under subsection (a)(3); and 

21 (3) evidence of having sought, received, and ad22 dressed comments on the proposed application from 

23 the public and appropriate Federal environmental 

24 resource agencies. 


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1 (c) REVIEW OF APPLICATION.—The Secretary 

2 shall— 

3 (1) review an application submitted under sub4 section (b); 

5 (2) approve or disapprove the application in ac6 cordance with subsection (d) not later than 90 days 

7 after the date of the receipt of the application; and 

8 (3) transmit to the State notice of the approval 

9 or disapproval, together with a statement of the rea10 sons for the approval or disapproval. 

11 (d) APPROVAL OF STATE PROGRAMS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall approve 

13 each such application if the Secretary finds that the 

14 proposed alternative environmental review and ap15 proval procedures of the State are substantially 

16 equivalent to the applicable Federal environmental 

17 laws and Federal regulations. 

18 (2) EXCLUSION.—The National Environmental 

19 Policy Act of 1969 and the Endangered Species Act 

20 of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) shall not apply to 

21 any decision by the Secretary to approve or dis22 approve any application submitted pursuant to this 

23 section. 

24 (e) COMPLIANCE WITH PERMITS.—Compliance with 

25 a permit or other approval of a project issued pursuant 


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1 to a program approved by the Secretary under this section 

2 shall be considered compliance with the Federal laws and 

3 regulations identified in the program approved by the Sec4 retary pursuant to this section. 

5 (f) REVIEW AND TERMINATION.— 

6 (1) REVIEW.—All State alternative environ7 mental review and approval procedures approved 

8 under this section shall be reviewed by the Secretary 

9 not less than once every 5 years. 

10 (2) PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT.—In con11 ducting the review process under paragraph (1), the 

12 Secretary shall provide notice and an opportunity for 

13 public comment. 

14 (3) EXTENSIONS AND TERMINATIONS.—At the 

15 conclusion of the review process, the Secretary may 

16 extend the State alternative environmental review 

17 and approval procedures for an additional 5-year pe18 riod or terminate the State program. 

19 (g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 

20 after the date of enactment of this section, and annually 

21 thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

22 that describes the administration of the program. 

23 (h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

24 (1) ENVIRONMENTAL LAW.—The term ‘‘envi25 ronmental law’’ includes any law that provides proVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 May 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2497.IH H2497

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1 cedural or substantive protection, as applicable, for 

2 the natural or built environment with regard to the 

3 construction and operation of projects. 

4 (2) FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS.—The 

5 term ‘‘Federal environmental laws’’ means laws gov6 erning the review of environmental impacts of, and 

7 issuance of permits and other approvals for, the con8 struction and operation of projects, including section 

9 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 

10 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)), section 404 of the 

11 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

12 1344), section 106 of the National Historic Preser13 vation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), and sections 7(a)(2), 

14 9(a)(1)(B), and 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Spe15 cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2), 

16 1538(a)(1)(B), 1539(a)(1)(B)). 

17 (3) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘project’’ means any 

18 project eligible for federal assistance under title 23, 

19 subtitle V of title 49, or chapter 53 of title 49 of the 

20 United States Code, or involves the participation of 

21 more than one Department of Transportation modal 

22 administration or secretarial office. 

Æ 


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