[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3230 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3230

To prohibit the use of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to 
document, predict, or mitigate the climate effects of specific Federal 
                                actions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 20, 2010

Mr. Inhofe (for himself, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Risch, 
Mr. Bennett, and Mr. Roberts) introduced the following bill; which was 
  read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 
                                 Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit the use of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to 
document, predict, or mitigate the climate effects of specific Federal 
                                actions.

    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 ``NEPA Certainty Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) using the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
        U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) as a climate change mitigation tool would 
        be costly and result in fewer jobs and slower economic growth, 
        since use of that Act for that purpose could cause delays in 
        energy, transportation, and other construction-related 
        projects;
            (2) assuming that the anthropogenic contribution to climate 
        change is significant and may lead to serious environmental 
        harm, using the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
        U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) as a mitigation tool would prove 
        environmentally ineffective in addressing climate change;
            (3) the purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act of 
        1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) is to ensure that a Federal 
        agency will carefully consider detailed information concerning 
        significant environmental impacts and make the relevant 
        information available to the public;
            (4) isolating the specific causes of various climatic 
        changes is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to 
        achieve; and
            (5) in February 2010, the Council on Environmental Quality 
        stated that--
                    (A) ``it is not currently useful for the NEPA 
                analysis to attempt to link specific climatological 
                changes, or the environmental impacts thereof, to the 
                particular project or emissions, as such direct linkage 
                is difficult to isolate and to understand.'';
                    (B) ``From a quantitative perspective, there are no 
                dominating sources and fewer sources that would even be 
                close to dominating total [greenhouse gas] 
                emissions.''; and
                    (C) ``agencies should recognize the scientific 
                limits of their ability to accurately predict climate 
                change effects, especially of a short-term nature''.
    (b) Declaration.--Congress declares that the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) should not be used to 
document, predict, or mitigate the climate effects of specific Federal 
actions.

SEC. 3. USE OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF 1969 FOR CLIMATE 
              CHANGE EFFECTS.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall not include consideration of--
            (1) the greenhouse gas emissions, or any climate change 
        effects of those emissions, of a proposed action and 
        alternative actions; or
            (2) the relationship of climate change effects to a 
        proposed action or alternatives, including the relationship to 
        proposal design, environmental impacts, mitigation, and 
        adaptation measures.
    (b) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this section preempts or interferes 
with--
            (1) any authority to consider the climate change effects of 
        proposed legislation or regulations specifically addressing 
        greenhouse gas emissions; or
            (2) any requirement to consider the potential effects of 
        climate change on proposals for agency action during planning 
        or design processes under provisions of law other than the 
        National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
        seq.).
                                 <all>