H.R. 573 — what changed

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

changed “201. Annual report reports on NEPA’s impact on projects

changed “(a) Report required—Beginning Submissions by lead agencies—Not later than July 1, 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality shall 2026, and annually publish on thereafter, the website head of the Council on Environmental Quality, and each lead agency shall submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee Council on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, Environmental Quality a report on—

changed “(1) each cause of civil action based on alleged non-compliance with alleging an agency action in violation of this Act that was active during the period beginning June 1 of the preceding year and ending June 1 of the current year, which shall identify—

changed “(A) with respect to each such cause of civil action—

changed “(i) the defendant lead agency agency, where applicable, and the lead each plaintiff; and

changed “(ii) the court in which the cause of civil action was brought and any court to which a decision on the cause of civil action was appealed;

changed “(B) the number of such causes of action, civil actions, disaggregated by the defendant agency, with a single entry denoting the lead agency;agency, where applicable, for cases involving multiple Federal agency defendants;

changed “(C) the alleged basis for each such cause of civil action, disaggregated by type; covered sectors; and

changed “(D) the status and outcome, if applicable, of each cause of civil action based on alleged non-compliance with alleging an agency action in violation of this Act that was active during the period beginning June 1 of the preceding year and ending June 1 of the current year, including whether—

changed “(i) the cause of civil action resulted in a decision to hold unlawful and set aside the major Federal agency action being reversed;within the meaning of section 706(2) of title 5, United States Code;

changed “(ii) the defendant lead civil action resulted in a decision allowing the Federal agency was allowed to move forward proceed with the major Federal action;

changed “(iii) the court issued a ruling directing civil action resulted in an order remanding the defendant lead agency to take additional measures matter to be in compliance;the agency for reconsideration without vacating the analysis;

changed “(iv) any claim under the lead civil action was resolved by a settlement agreement or consent decree between any plaintiff and the defendant lead agency settled amongst themselves;agency;

changed “(v) the cause of civil action is still active; and

changed “(vi) any of the lead plaintiff plaintiffs received an award, including an award of costs pursuant to section 2412 of title 28, United States Code;Code, except that if such information is received after the lead agency submits the applicable report to the Council on Environmental Quality, the lead agency shall include such information in the subsequent report;

changed “(2) the length of environmental impact statements and environmental assessments prepared made publicly available pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during the period of 5 years that ends on June 1 of the current year, which shall include—

changed “(A) the average and median page count of each draft and final all such environmental impact statement and environmental assessment (including the appendix) published in statements (not including the Federal Register during such period page count of 5 years, any citations or appendices), including such page counts disaggregated by quartiles;

changed “(B) the number of draft average and final environmental impact statements median page count of any citations and environmental assessments published appendices included in the Federal Register during such period of 5 years, disaggregated by defendant lead agency and subagency as applicable; andenvironmental impact statements;

changed “(C) a description of trends in average and median page count the number of draft and final such environmental impact statements and environmental assessments published in the Federal Register during such period of 5 years compared to prior reports published statements, disaggregated by the Council on Environmental Quality;lead agency and subagency as applicable;

changed “(3) the total cost to prepare the “(D) a description of trends in average and median page count of such environmental impact statements and environmental assessments described any citations and appendices included in paragraph (2), including—such environmental impact statements compared to prior reports published by the Council on Environmental Quality; and

changed “(A) “(E) for each report submitted under this section through 2028, a disaggregation of the full-time equivalent personnel hour costs, contractor costs, data from before and other direct costs after the date of the lead agency that prepared enactment of the environmental impact statement or environmental assessment; andFiscal Responsibility Act of 2023;

changed “(B) if practicable, and noted where not practicable, “(3) an estimate of the costs incurred by cooperating agencies, participating agencies, applicants, and contractors; andcost to prepare the environmental impact statements described in paragraph (2), including—

changed “(4) the timelines to complete environmental reviews pursuant to section 102(2)(C) during “(A) the period full-time equivalent personnel hour costs, contractor costs, and other direct costs of 10 years the lead agency that ends on June 1 of prepared the current year, which shall include—environmental impact statement; and

added “(B) if practicable, and noted where not practicable, the costs incurred by cooperating agencies, participating agencies, any project sponsor that prepared an environmental impact statement under the supervision of the lead agency, and contractors; and

added “(4) the timelines to complete environmental impact statements 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 project sponsor submitted an application for any permit or other authorization for the project;

“(ii) the lead agency began the scoping;

removed “(iii) the notice of intent to prepare the environmental impact statement was published in the Federal Register;

removed “(iv) the draft environmental impact statement was published in the Federal Register;

changed “(v) “(iii) the final notice of intent to prepare the environmental impact statement was published in the Federal Register;made publicly available;

changed “(vi) “(iv) the record of decision environmental impact statement was published in the Federal Register; andmade publicly available;

changed “(vii) the lead agency provided to the project sponsor notice to proceed on “(v) the project;record of decision was made publicly available; and

changed “(B) “(vi) the average and median publication timelines during such period of 10 years for each document described in subparagraph (A); andlead agency provided to the project sponsor notice to proceed on the project;

changed “(C) a description of trends in “(B) the average and median completion times timelines during such period of 10 years for such documents compared to prior reports published by the Council on Environmental Quality.each document described in subparagraph (A);

changed “(b) Format“(C) a description of trends in completion timelines during such period of 10 years for such documents compared to prior reports published by the Council on Environmental Quality; and

changed “(1) In general—The information included in “(D) for each report required submitted under subsection (a) shall be disaggregated by the type this section through 2033, a disaggregation of project the data from before and covered sector.after the date of the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

changed “(2) Covered sectors—In this subsection, the term covered sector means any “(b) Publication and submission of reports by the following sectors:Council on Environmental Quality

changed “(A) Aviation and space.“(1) In general—The Council on Environmental Qualify shall annually—

changed “(B) Broadband.“(A) publish the reports received under subsection (a) on the website of the Council on Environmental Quality; and

changed “(C) Carbon capture “(B) submit such reports to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and sequestration.the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate.

changed “(D) Conventional energy production.“(2) Inclusion in other reports—The Council on Environmental Quality may carry out paragraph (1)(B) by including the reports received under subsection (a) in the report submitted under section 107(h).

changed “(E) Renewable energy production.“(3) Public availability of data—The Council on Environmental Quality shall publish with each report published under paragraph (1)(A) the underlying data used to prepare each such report and include any citations or other information necessary for the public to locate records related to the court proceedings for any civil action described in subsection (a)(1).

changed “(F) Electricity transmission.“(c) Format—To the extent practicable, the information included in each report submitted to the Council on Environmental Quality under subsection (a) shall be disaggregated by covered sector.

changed “(G) Manufacturing.“(d) Covered sector defined—In this section, the term covered sector means any of the following sectors:

changed “(H) Mining.“(1) Aviation and space.

changed “(I) Pipelines.“(2) Broadband.

changed “(J) Ports “(3) Carbon capture and waterways.sequestration.

changed “(K) Surface transportation.“(4) Conventional energy production.

changed “(L) Information technology infrastructure.“(5) Electricity transmission.

changed “(M) Water resources.“(6) Forestry.

changed “(N) Forestry.“(7) Information technology infrastructure.

changed “(O) Any other sector as determined by the Council on Environmental Quality.“(8) Manufacturing.

changed “(c) 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 and include any citations or other information necessary for the public to locate records related to the court proceedings for any cause of action described in subsection (a)(1).”“(9) Mining.

added “(10) Pipelines.

added “(11) Ports and waterways.

added “(12) Renewable energy production.

added “(13) Surface transportation.

added “(14) Water resources.

added “(15) Any other sector as determined by the Council on Environmental Quality or lead agency.”