HR 348 RFS 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Responsibly And Pro-
fessionally Invigorating Development Act of 2015’’ or as 
the ‘‘RAPID Act’’. 
SEC. 2. COORDINATION OF AGENCY ADMINISTRATIVE OP-
ERATIONS FOR EFFICIENT DECISIONMAKING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of part 1 of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting after sub-
chapter II the following: 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER IIA—INTERAGENCY 
COORDINATION REGARDING PERMITTING 
‘‘§ 560. Coordination of agency administrative oper-
ations for efficient decisionmaking 
‘‘(a) CONGRESSIONAL DECLARATION OF PURPOSE.— 
The purpose of this subchapter is to establish a framework 
and procedures to streamline, increase the efficiency of, 
and enhance coordination of agency administration of the 
regulatory review, environmental decisionmaking, and per-
mitting process for projects undertaken, reviewed, or fund-
ed by Federal agencies. This subchapter will ensure that 
agencies administer the regulatory process in a manner 
that is efficient so that citizens are not burdened with reg-
ulatory excuses and time delays. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
chapter, the term— 
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‘‘(1) ‘agency’ means any agency, department, or 
other unit of Federal, State, local, or Indian tribal 
government; 
‘‘(2) ‘category of projects’ means two or more 
projects related by project type, potential environ-
mental impacts, geographic location, or another 
similar project feature or characteristic; 
‘‘(3) ‘environmental assessment’ means a con-
cise public document for which a Federal agency is 
responsible that serves to— 
‘‘(A) briefly provide sufficient evidence and 
analysis for determining whether to prepare an 
environmental impact statement or a finding of 
no significant impact; 
‘‘(B) aid an agency’s compliance with 
NEPA when no environmental impact state-
ment is necessary; and 
‘‘(C) facilitate preparation of an environ-
mental impact statement when one is necessary; 
‘‘(4) ‘environmental impact statement’ means 
the detailed statement of significant environmental 
impacts required to be prepared under NEPA; 
‘‘(5) ‘environmental review’ means the Federal 
agency procedures for preparing an environmental 
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impact statement, environmental assessment, cat-
egorical exclusion, or other document under NEPA; 
‘‘(6) ‘environmental decisionmaking process’ 
means the Federal agency procedures for under-
taking and completion of any environmental permit, 
decision, approval, review, or study under any Fed-
eral law other than NEPA for a project subject to 
an environmental review; 
‘‘(7) ‘environmental document’ means an envi-
ronmental assessment or environmental impact 
statement, and includes any supplemental document 
or document prepared pursuant to a court order; 
‘‘(8) ‘finding of no significant impact’ means a 
document by a Federal agency briefly presenting the 
reasons why a project, not otherwise subject to a 
categorical exclusion, will not have a significant ef-
fect on the human environment and for which an en-
vironmental impact statement therefore will not be 
prepared; 
‘‘(9) ‘lead agency’ means the Federal agency 
preparing or responsible for preparing the environ-
mental document; 
‘‘(10) ‘NEPA’ means the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 
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‘‘(11) ‘project’ means major Federal actions 
that are construction activities undertaken with Fed-
eral funds or that are construction activities that re-
quire approval by a permit or regulatory decision 
issued by a Federal agency; 
‘‘(12) ‘project sponsor’ means the agency or 
other entity, including any private or public-private 
entity, that seeks approval for a project or is other-
wise responsible for undertaking a project; and 
‘‘(13) ‘record of decision’ means a document 
prepared by a lead agency under NEPA following an 
environmental impact statement that states the lead 
agency’s decision, identifies the alternatives consid-
ered by the agency in reaching its decision and 
states whether all practicable means to avoid or min-
imize environmental harm from the alternative se-
lected have been adopted, and if not, why they were 
not adopted. 
‘‘(c) PREPARATION
OF
ENVIRONMENTAL
DOCU-
MENTS.—Upon the request of the lead agency, the project 
sponsor shall be authorized to prepare any document for 
purposes of an environmental review required in support 
of any project or approval by the lead agency if the lead 
agency furnishes oversight in such preparation and inde-
pendently evaluates such document and the document is 
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approved and adopted by the lead agency prior to taking 
any action or making any approval based on such docu-
ment. 
‘‘(d) ADOPTION AND USE OF DOCUMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) DOCUMENTS PREPARED UNDER NEPA.— 
‘‘(A) Not more than one environmental im-
pact statement and one environmental assess-
ment shall be prepared under NEPA for a 
project (except for supplemental environmental 
documents prepared under NEPA or environ-
mental documents prepared pursuant to a court 
order), and, except as otherwise provided by 
law, the lead agency shall prepare the environ-
mental impact statement or environmental as-
sessment. After the lead agency issues a record 
of decision, no Federal agency responsible for 
making any approval for that project may rely 
on a document other than the environmental 
document prepared by the lead agency. 
‘‘(B) Upon the request of a project spon-
sor, a lead agency may adopt, use, or rely upon 
secondary and cumulative impact analyses in-
cluded in any environmental document prepared 
under NEPA for projects in the same geo-
graphic area where the secondary and cumu-
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lative impact analyses provide information and 
data that pertains to the NEPA decision for the 
project under review. 
‘‘(2) STATE
ENVIRONMENTAL
DOCUMENTS; 
SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) Upon the request of a project spon-
sor, a lead agency may adopt a document that 
has been prepared for a project under State 
laws and procedures as the environmental im-
pact statement or environmental assessment for 
the project, provided that the State laws and 
procedures under which the document was pre-
pared provide environmental protection and op-
portunities for public involvement that are sub-
stantially equivalent to NEPA. 
‘‘(B) An environmental document adopted 
under subparagraph (A) is deemed to satisfy 
the lead agency’s obligation under NEPA to 
prepare an environmental impact statement or 
environmental assessment. 
‘‘(C) In the case of a document described 
in subparagraph (A), during the period after 
preparation of the document but before its 
adoption by the lead agency, the lead agency 
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shall prepare and publish a supplement to that 
document if the lead agency determines that— 
‘‘(i) a significant change has been 
made to the project that is relevant for 
purposes of environmental review of the 
project; or 
‘‘(ii) there have been significant 
changes in circumstances or availability of 
information relevant to the environmental 
review for the project. 
‘‘(D) If the agency prepares and publishes 
a supplemental document under subparagraph 
(C), the lead agency may solicit comments from 
agencies and the public on the supplemental 
document for a period of not more than 45 
days beginning on the date of the publication of 
the supplement. 
‘‘(E) A lead agency shall issue its record of 
decision or finding of no significant impact, as 
appropriate, based upon the document adopted 
under subparagraph (A), and any supplements 
thereto. 
‘‘(3) CONTEMPORANEOUS
PROJECTS.—If the 
lead agency determines that there is a reasonable 
likelihood that the project will have similar environ-
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shall collaborate on the preparation of the environ-
mental document, unless the Federal agency informs 
the lead agency, in writing, by a time specified by 
the lead agency in the designation of the Federal 
agency that the Federal agency— 
‘‘(A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 
respect to the project; 
‘‘(B) has no expertise or information rel-
evant to the project; and 
‘‘(C) does not intend to submit comments 
on the project. 
‘‘(3) INVITATION.—The lead agency shall iden-
tify, as early as practicable in the environmental re-
view for a project, any agencies other than an agen-
cy described in paragraph (2) that may have an in-
terest in the project, including, where appropriate, 
Governors of affected States, and heads of appro-
priate tribal and local (including county) govern-
ments, and shall invite such identified agencies and 
officials to become cooperating agencies in the envi-
ronmental review for the project. The invitation shall 
set a deadline of 30 days for responses to be sub-
mitted, which may only be extended by the lead 
agency for good cause shown. Any agency that fails 
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to respond prior to the deadline shall be deemed to 
have declined the invitation. 
‘‘(4) EFFECT
OF
DECLINING
COOPERATING 
AGENCY INVITATION.—Any agency that declines a 
designation or invitation by the lead agency to be a 
cooperating agency shall be precluded from submit-
ting comments on any document prepared under 
NEPA for that project or taking any measures to 
oppose, based on the environmental review, any per-
mit, license, or approval related to that project. 
‘‘(5) EFFECT
OF
DESIGNATION.—Designation 
as a cooperating agency under this subsection does 
not imply that the cooperating agency— 
‘‘(A) supports a proposed project; or 
‘‘(B) has any jurisdiction over, or special 
expertise with respect to evaluation of, the 
project. 
‘‘(6) CONCURRENT
REVIEWS.—Each Federal 
agency shall— 
‘‘(A) carry out obligations of the Federal 
agency under other applicable law concurrently 
and in conjunction with the review required 
under NEPA; and 
‘‘(B) in accordance with the rules made by 
the Council on Environmental Quality pursuant 
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to subsection (n)(1), make and carry out such 
rules, policies, and procedures as may be rea-
sonably necessary to enable the agency to en-
sure completion of the environmental review 
and environmental decisionmaking process in a 
timely, coordinated, and environmentally re-
sponsible manner. 
‘‘(7) COMMENTS.—Each cooperating agency 
shall limit its comments on a project to areas that 
are within the authority and expertise of such co-
operating agency. Each cooperating agency shall 
identify in such comments the statutory authority of 
the cooperating agency pertaining to the subject 
matter of its comments. The lead agency shall not 
act upon, respond to or include in any document 
prepared under NEPA, any comment submitted by 
a cooperating agency that concerns matters that are 
outside of the authority and expertise of the com-
menting cooperating agency. 
‘‘(f) LEAD AGENCY INITIATION.—The lead agency 
shall initiate the environmental review within a period of 
45 days after receiving an application for a project from 
a project sponsor. 
‘‘(g) ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS.— 
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‘‘(1) PARTICIPATION.—As early as practicable 
during the environmental review, but no later than 
during scoping for a project requiring the prepara-
tion of an environmental impact statement, the lead 
agency shall provide an opportunity for involvement 
by cooperating agencies in determining the range of 
alternatives to be considered for a project. 
‘‘(2) RANGE
OF
ALTERNATIVES.—Following 
participation under paragraph (1), the lead agency 
shall determine the range of alternatives for consid-
eration in any document which the lead agency is re-
sponsible for preparing for the project, subject to the 
following limitations: 
‘‘(A) NO EVALUATION OF CERTAIN ALTER-
NATIVES.—No Federal agency shall evaluate 
any alternative that was identified but not car-
ried forward for detailed evaluation in an envi-
ronmental document or evaluated and not se-
lected in any environmental document prepared 
under NEPA for the same project. 
‘‘(B) 
ONLY
FEASIBLE
ALTERNATIVES 
EVALUATED.—Where a project is being con-
structed, managed, funded, or undertaken by a 
project sponsor that is not a Federal agency, 
Federal agencies shall only be required to evalu-
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ate alternatives that the project sponsor could 
feasibly undertake, consistent with the purpose 
of and the need for the project, including alter-
natives that can be undertaken by the project 
sponsor and that are technically and economi-
cally feasible. 
‘‘(3) METHODOLOGIES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The lead agency shall 
determine, in collaboration with cooperating 
agencies at appropriate times during the envi-
ronmental review, the methodologies to be used 
and the level of detail required in the analysis 
of each alternative for a project. The lead agen-
cy shall include in the environmental document 
a description of the methodologies used and 
how the methodologies were selected. 
‘‘(B) NO EVALUATION OF INAPPROPRIATE 
ALTERNATIVES.—When a lead agency deter-
mines that an alternative does not meet the 
purpose and need for a project, that alternative 
is not required to be evaluated in detail in an 
environmental document. 
‘‘(4) PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE.—At the dis-
cretion of the lead agency, the preferred alternative 
for a project, after being identified, may be devel-
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oped to a higher level of detail than other alter-
natives in order to facilitate the development of miti-
gation measures or concurrent compliance with other 
applicable laws if the lead agency determines that 
the development of such higher level of detail will 
not prevent the lead agency from making an impar-
tial decision as to whether to accept another alter-
native which is being considered in the environ-
mental review. 
‘‘(5) EMPLOYMENT ANALYSIS.—The evaluation 
of each alternative in an environmental impact state-
ment or an environmental assessment shall identify 
the potential effects of the alternative on employ-
ment, including potential short-term and long-term 
employment increases and reductions and shifts in 
employment. 
‘‘(6) 
LOW-INCOME
AND
COMMUNITIES
OF 
COLOR
ANALYSIS.—The evaluation of each alter-
native in an environmental impact statement or an 
environmental assessment shall identify the potential 
effects of the alternative on low-income communities 
and communities of color. 
‘‘(h) COORDINATION AND SCHEDULING.— 
‘‘(1) COORDINATION PLAN.— 
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The lead agency shall 
establish and implement a plan for coordinating 
public and agency participation in and comment 
on the environmental review for a project or 
category of projects to facilitate the expeditious 
resolution of the environmental review. 
‘‘(B) SCHEDULE.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The lead agency 
shall establish as part of the coordination 
plan for a project, after consultation with 
each cooperating agency and, where appli-
cable, the project sponsor, a schedule for 
completion of the environmental review. 
The schedule shall include deadlines, con-
sistent with subsection (i), for decisions 
under any other Federal laws (including 
the issuance or denial of a permit or li-
cense) relating to the project that is cov-
ered by the schedule. 
‘‘(ii) 
FACTORS
FOR
CONSIDER-
ATION.—In establishing the schedule, the 
lead agency shall consider factors such 
as— 
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‘‘(I) the responsibilities of co-
operating agencies under applicable 
laws; 
‘‘(II) resources available to the 
cooperating agencies; 
‘‘(III) overall size and complexity 
of the project; 
‘‘(IV) overall schedule for and 
cost of the project; 
‘‘(V) the sensitivity of the natural 
and historic resources that could be 
affected by the project; and 
‘‘(VI) the extent to which similar 
projects in geographic proximity were 
recently subject to environmental re-
view or similar State procedures. 
‘‘(iii) COMPLIANCE WITH THE SCHED-
ULE.— 
‘‘(I) All cooperating agencies 
shall comply with the time periods es-
tablished in the schedule or with any 
modified time periods, where the lead 
agency modifies the schedule pursuant 
to subparagraph (D). 
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‘‘(II) The lead agency shall dis-
regard and shall not respond to or in-
clude in any document prepared under 
NEPA, any comment or information 
submitted or any finding made by a 
cooperating agency that is outside of 
the time period established in the 
schedule or modification pursuant to 
subparagraph (D) for that agency’s 
comment, submission or finding. 
‘‘(III) If a cooperating agency 
fails to object in writing to a lead 
agency decision, finding or request for 
concurrence within the time period es-
tablished under law or by the lead 
agency, the agency shall be deemed to 
have concurred in the decision, finding 
or request. 
‘‘(C) CONSISTENCY WITH OTHER TIME PE-
RIODS.—A schedule under subparagraph (B) 
shall be consistent with any other relevant time 
periods established under Federal law. 
‘‘(D) MODIFICATION.—The lead agency 
may— 
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‘‘(i) lengthen a schedule established 
under subparagraph (B) for good cause; 
and 
‘‘(ii) shorten a schedule only with the 
concurrence of the cooperating agencies. 
‘‘(E) DISSEMINATION.—A copy of a sched-
ule under subparagraph (B), and of any modi-
fications to the schedule, shall be— 
‘‘(i) provided within 15 days of com-
pletion or modification of such schedule to 
all cooperating agencies and to the project 
sponsor; and 
‘‘(ii) made available to the public. 
‘‘(F) ROLES
AND
RESPONSIBILITY
OF 
LEAD AGENCY.—With respect to the environ-
mental review for any project, the lead agency 
shall have authority and responsibility to take 
such actions as are necessary and proper, with-
in the authority of the lead agency, to facilitate 
the expeditious resolution of the environmental 
review for the project. 
‘‘(i) DEADLINES.—The following deadlines shall 
apply to any project subject to review under NEPA and 
any decision under any Federal law relating to such 
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project (including the issuance or denial of a permit or 
license or any required finding): 
‘‘(1) ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW DEADLINES.— 
The lead agency shall complete the environmental 
review within the following deadlines: 
‘‘(A) ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
STATE-
MENT PROJECTS.—For projects requiring prep-
aration of an environmental impact statement— 
‘‘(i) the lead agency shall issue an en-
vironmental impact statement within 2 
years after the earlier of the date the lead 
agency receives an application for a project 
from a project sponsor or a Notice of In-
tent to Prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement is published in the Federal Reg-
ister; and 
‘‘(ii) in circumstances where the lead 
agency has prepared an environmental as-
sessment and determined that an environ-
mental impact statement will be required, 
the lead agency shall issue the environ-
mental impact statement within 2 years 
after the date of publication of the Notice 
of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Im-
pact Statement in the Federal Register. 
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‘‘(B) 
ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT 
PROJECTS.—For projects requiring preparation 
of an environmental assessment, the lead agen-
cy shall issue a finding of no significant impact 
or publish a Notice of Intent to Prepare an En-
vironmental Impact Statement in the Federal 
Register within 1 year after the earlier of the 
date the lead agency receives the project initi-
ation request, makes a decision to prepare an 
environmental assessment, or sends out cooper-
ating agency invitations. 
‘‘(2) EXTENSIONS.— 
‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTS.—The environmental 
review deadlines may be extended only if— 
‘‘(i) a different deadline is established 
by agreement of the lead agency, the 
project sponsor, and all cooperating agen-
cies; or 
‘‘(ii) the deadline is extended by the 
lead agency for good cause. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—The environmental re-
view shall not be extended by more than 1 year 
for a project requiring preparation of an envi-
ronmental impact statement or by more than 
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