Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act” or the “SPEED Act”.
Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act
A BILL
To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to clarify ambiguous provisions and facilitate a more efficient, effective, and timely environmental review process, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 NEPA reform
Purposes; intent; effect— Section 2 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321) is amended—
by striking the section designation and heading and all that follows through “are: To” and inserting the following:
“2. Purposes; intent; effect
“(a) Purposes—The purposes of this Act are to”
by adding at the end the following:
“(b) Intent—This Act—
“(1) is a procedural statute intended to ensure Federal agencies consider the environmental impacts of their actions during the decisionmaking process;
“(2) does not mandate particular results; and
“(3) only prescribes a purely procedural process.
“(c) Effect—Nothing in this Act—
“(1) mandates any specific environmental outcome or result; or
“(2) confers substantive rights or imposes substantive duties beyond procedural requirements.”
Procedure for determination of level of review— Section 106 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336) is amended—
in the section heading, by inserting “scope and” after “determination of”;
in subsection (a)—
in paragraph (2), by striking “109 of this Act,” and inserting “109, a categorical exclusion established by Congress,”;
in paragraph (3), by striking “or”;
in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(5) the proposed agency action is an action for which such agency’s compliance with another statute’s requirements serve a similar function as the requirements of this Act with respect to such action; or
“(6) the proposed agency action—
“(A) relates to a project or action that has already been reviewed pursuant to a State or Tribal environmental review statute; and
“(B) the lead agency determines such review meets the requirements of this Act.”
in subsection (b)—
in paragraph (2), in the first sentence—
by striking “does not” and inserting “is not likely to”; and
by striking “109 of this Act,” and inserting “109, a categorical exclusion established by Congress,”; and
in paragraph (3), by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting the following:
“(B) is not required to undertake new scientific or technical research—
“(i) unless the new scientific or technical research is essential to a reasoned choice among alternatives, and the overall costs and time frame of obtaining it are not unreasonable; or
“(ii) after the receipt of an application, as applicable, with respect to such proposed agency action.”
by adding at the end the following:
“(c) Scope of review—In developing an environmental document for a proposed agency action, a Federal agency—
“(1) may only consider effects that share a reasonably close causal relationship to, and are proximately caused by, the immediate project or action under consideration; and
“(2) may not consider effects that are speculative, attenuated from the project or action, separate in time or place from the project or action, or in relation to separate existing or potential future projects or actions.
“(d) Certainty—A Federal agency may not rescind, withdraw, amend, alter, or otherwise render ineffective any environmental document completed under this Act unless the Federal agency has been so ordered by a court.”
Timely and unified Federal reviews— Section 107 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336a) is amended—
in subsection (a)(3), in the second sentence, by striking the period at the end and inserting “, which shall be limited to matters relating to the proposed agency action with respect to which such cooperating agency has jurisdiction by law. If a lead agency determines an environmental document is not required to be prepared with respect to a proposed agency action under section 106(a), another agency may not prepare an environmental document with respect to such proposed agency action.”;
in subsection (b)—
by striking “To the extent practicable,” and inserting the following:
“(1) In general—To the extent practicable,”
by adding at the end the following:
“(2) Consideration timing
“(A) In general—In developing an environmental document for a proposed agency action, no Federal agency shall be required to consider any scientific or technical research that becomes publicly available after the earlier of, as applicable—
“(i) the date of receipt of an application with respect to such proposed agency action; and
“(ii) the date of publication of a notice of intent or decision to prepare such environmental document for such proposed agency action.
“(B) Applicability to other law—Nothing in this paragraph affects any review of information required under subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, with respect to comments received during the public comment period, as applicable.
“(C) Unnecessary delay—A Federal agency may not delay the issuance of an environmental document or a final agency action, including any decision or determination, on the basis of awaiting new scientific or technical research or information that was not available as of the deadlines described in subparagraph (A).”
in subsection (d), by striking the period at the end and inserting “, which shall, where applicable, meet the goals of the applicant.”; and
in subsection (g)—
in paragraph (2), by striking “, in consultation with the applicant, to” and inserting “if the applicant approves such extension. If the applicant approves such extension, the lead agency shall”;
in paragraph (3)(A), by striking “A project sponsor may” and inserting “Except as provided in subparagraph (C), a project sponsor may”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(C) Exception—A project sponsor that approved an extension of a deadline under paragraph (2) may not obtain review of a failure to act in accordance with such deadline under subparagraph (A) unless the lead agency fails to meet the new deadline or is delaying for reasons other than those necessary to complete its review.”
Programmatic environmental documents— Section 108 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336b) is amended—
in paragraph (1), by striking “5” and inserting “10”; and
in paragraph (2), by striking “5” and inserting “10”.
Adoption of categorical exclusions— Section 109 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336c) is amended—
in the matter preceding paragraph (1), in the first sentence, by inserting “, or that was established by Congress,” after “procedures”;
in paragraph (1), by inserting “or established by Congress” after “NEPA procedures”; and
in paragraph (2), by inserting “, if applicable,” after “established the categorical exclusion”.
Definitions— Section 111 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336e) is amended—
in paragraph (1), by inserting “, or Congress deems by statute,” after “Federal agency has determined”;
by redesignating paragraphs (8), (9), and (10) as paragraphs (10), (8), (9), respectively, and the moving the paragraphs so as to appear in numerical order;
in paragraph (9) (as so redesignated)—
in subparagraph (B)—
in clause (iii)—
by inserting “, grants” after “loan guarantees”;
by striking “sufficient” and inserting “complete”; and
by striking “subsequent use of such financial assistance or the”;
in clause (iv), by striking “section 7(a) or (b) and of the Small Business Act (U.S.C. 636(a)), or” and inserting “subsection (a) or (b) of section 7 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636) or”;
by redesignating clauses (iv) through (vii) as clauses (vi) through (ix), respectively; and
by inserting after clause (iii) the following:
“(iv) farm ownership and operating loan guarantees by the Farm Service Agency pursuant to section 305 and subtitle B of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925, 1941 et seq.);
“(v) the issuance of a permit or other authorization by a Federal agency where the proposal under consideration is otherwise being evaluated or was previously evaluated by the lead agency in compliance with this Act;”
by adding at the end the following:
“(C) Additional exclusions—An agency action may not be determined to be a major Federal action solely on the basis of the provision of Federal funds, including a grant, loan, loan guarantee, and funding assistance.”
by redesignating paragraph (13) as paragraph (14); and
by inserting after paragraph (12) the following:
“(13) Reasonably foreseeable
“(A) In general—The term reasonably foreseeable, with respect to environmental effects of a proposed agency action, means effects that share a reasonably close causal relationship to, and are proximately caused by, the immediate project or action under consideration.
“(B) Exclusions—The term reasonably foreseeable, with respect to environmental effects of a proposed agency action, does not include effects that are—
“(i) speculative;
“(ii) attenuated from the proposed agency action;
“(iii) separate in time or place from the proposed agency action; or
“(iv) in relation to separate existing or potential future projects.”
Duties of the Council— Section 204(4) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4344(4)) is amended by inserting “energy,” after “health,”.
Sec. 3 Judicial review
Title I of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4331 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“113. Judicial review
“(a) Definition of agency action—In this section, the term agency action has the meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
“(b) Standard of review—Notwithstanding chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code, in reviewing a claim of whether a final agency action complies with the procedural requirements of this Act, a court may only hold that the final agency action does not comply with those procedural requirements if the court determines that—
“(1) the agency abused its substantial discretion in complying with those procedural requirements; and
“(2) the agency would have reached a different result with respect to the final agency action absent such abuse of substantial discretion.
“(c) Role of the court—A court reviewing a claim described in subsection (b) may not substitute its judgment for that of the agency with respect to the environmental effects of a proposed agency action.
“(d) Remand
“(1) In general—If a court holds that a final agency action does not comply with the procedural requirements of this Act, the court may only remand the final agency action to the agency with—
“(A) specific instruction to correct the errors or deficiencies in compliance; and
“(B) a reasonable schedule and deadline, which such deadline may not exceed—
“(i) with respect to an order entered before the date of enactment of this section, the date that is 180 days after that date of enactment; and
“(ii) with respect to an order entered on or after the date of enactment of this section, the date that is 180 days after the date on which the order was entered.
“(2) Continued effect of final agency action—A final agency action remanded under paragraph (1) shall remain in effect while the Federal agency corrects any errors or deficiencies specified by the court.
“(e) Limitations on claims
“(1) In general—Notwithstanding chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code, a claim described in subsection (b) shall be barred unless—
“(A) the claim is filed not later than 150 days after the date on which the final agency action is made public, unless a shorter timeline is specified under Federal law;
“(B) in the case of a final agency action for which there was a public comment period on an environmental document, the claim—
“(i) is filed by a party that submitted a substantive and unique comment during the public comment period by the noticed comment deadline for the environmental document and the comment was sufficiently detailed to put the applicable Federal agency on notice of the issue on which the party seeks review and shows that the party would suffer direct harm if its comments were not addressed; and
“(ii) concerns the same subject matter raised in the comment submitted during the public comment period; and
“(C) the claim does not challenge the establishment of a categorical exclusion.
“(2) Supplemental environmental documents
“(A) In general—If an agency issues a supplemental environmental document in response to a court order remanding a final agency action, the deadline described in paragraph (1)(A) shall be the date on which the agency makes public the agency action for which the supplemental environmental document is prepared.
“(B) Limitation—A claim for review of a final agency action described in subparagraph (A) shall be limited to information contained in the final supplemental environmental document that was not contained in a previous environmental document for the final agency action.
“(f) Deadline for resolution
“(1) In general—A court shall issue a final judgment on a claim described in subsection (b)—
“(A) as expeditiously as practicable; and
“(B) unless a shorter timeline is specified under Federal law, not later than the date that is 180 days after the date on which the agency record for the review is filed with the reviewing court, which shall not be more than 30 days from the filing of the claim.
“(2) Accelerated deadlines—Nothing in this subsection prevents a court from further expediting review of a claim described in subsection (b).
“(3) Appeals
“(A) Filing—A notice of appeal of a final judgment described in this subsection shall be filed not later than 60 days after the final judgment is issued.
“(B) Deadline for review—A court shall issue a final decision on an appeal filed under subparagraph (A)—
“(i) as expeditiously as practicable; and
“(ii) not later than the date that is 180 days after the date on which the appeal is filed.
“(g) Final agency actions—The completion of an environmental assessment, an environmental impact statement, or a finding of no significant impact, or a determination to categorically exclude an action, shall not be considered a final agency action under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code.
“(h) No effect on review of compliance with other deadlines—Nothing in this section affects the right to obtain review under section 107(g)(3).”