[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6129 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6129

 To require the Council on Environmental Quality to publish an annual 
     report on environmental reviews and causes of action based on 
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 1, 2023

Mr. Yakym (for himself and Mr. Panetta) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Council on Environmental Quality to publish an annual 
     report on environmental reviews and causes of action based on 
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 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. ANNUAL REPORT ON NEPA'S IMPACT ON PROJECTS.

    Section 201 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4341) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 201. ANNUAL REPORT ON NEPA'S IMPACT ON PROJECTS.

    ``(a) Report Required.--Beginning July 1, 2024, the Council on 
Environmental Quality shall annually publish on the website of the 
Council on Environmental Quality, and submit to Congress, a report on--
            ``(1) each cause of action based on compliance with this 
        Act filed during the period beginning June 1 of the preceding 
        year and ending June 1 of the current year, which shall 
        identify--
                    ``(A) with respect to each such cause of action, 
                the lead defendant Federal agency and the lead 
                plaintiff;
                    ``(B) the number of such causes of action, 
                disaggregated by the lead defendant Federal agency;
                    ``(C) the alleged basis for each such cause of 
                action, disaggregated by type; and
                    ``(D) the status and outcome, if applicable, of 
                each cause of action based on compliance with this Act 
                filed during the period beginning June 1 of the 
                preceding year and ending June 1 of the current year, 
                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;
                            ``(iv) the lead plaintiff and the lead 
                        defendant Federal agency settled amongst 
                        themselves; and
                            ``(v) the cause of action is still in 
                        progress;
            ``(2) the length of environmental impact statements 
        prepared pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during the period of 5 
        years that ends on June 1 of the current year, 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 such period of 5 years, including such 
                page counts disaggregated by quartiles;
                    ``(B) the number of draft and final environmental 
                impact statements published in the Federal Register 
                during such period of 5 years, disaggregated by lead 
                Federal agency and subagency as applicable; and
                    ``(C) a description of trends in average and median 
                page count of draft and final environmental impact 
                statements published in the Federal Register during 
                such period of 5 years compared to prior reports 
                published by the Council on Environmental Quality; and
            ``(3) the timelines to complete environmental reviews 
        pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during the period of 10 years 
        that ends on June 1 of the current year, which shall include--
                    ``(A) with respect to each major Federal action 
                commenced during such period of 10 years, 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 such period of 10 years for each document 
                described in subparagraph (A); and
                    ``(C) a description of trends in completion times 
                during such period of 10 years for such documents 
                compared to prior reports published by the Council on 
                Environmental Quality.
    ``(b) Public Availability of Data.--The Council on Environmental 
Quality shall publish with each report published under subsection (a) 
the underlying data used to prepare each such report.''.
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