SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Responsibly And Pro-
fessionally Invigorating Development Act of 2014’’ 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—
‘‘(1) ‘agency’ means any agency, department, or 
other unit of Federal, State, local, or Indian tribal 
government; 
‘‘(2) ‘category of projects’ means 2 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
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.);
‘‘(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
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 1 environmental im-
pact statement and 1 environmental assessment 
shall be prepared under NEPA for a project 
(except for supplemental environmental docu-
ments prepared under NEPA or environmental 
documents prepared pursuant to a court order), 
and, except as otherwise provided by law, the 
lead agency shall prepare the environmental im-
pact statement or environmental assessment. 
After the lead agency issues a record of deci-
sion, no Federal agency responsible for making 
any approval for that project may rely on a doc-
ument 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-
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-