Summary

Exempts the Department of Defense, its components, contractors, and designees from several major environmental laws for activities the President or the Secretary of Defense certifies are directly related to countering the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. The exemption covers NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Clean Water Act for specified readiness, training, construction, and technology activities; it bars judicial review and applies retroactively to ongoing actions. The Secretary must periodically review environmental mitigation best practices but retains discretion over mitigation choices.

• Removes NEPA, ESA, MMPA, and Clean Water Act requirements for DoD activities certified as directly countering the threat from the Chinese Communist Party.
• Certification authority rests with the President or the Secretary of Defense and applies to DoD components, contractors, and designees.
• Bars Federal, State, and local environmental reviews from substituting for the exempted statutes.
• Prevents courts from reviewing or enjoining covered certifications or activities, creating near-total judicial immunity for those actions.
• Applies retroactively to ongoing activities and nullifies pending related litigation or administrative challenges.
• Requires the Secretary of Defense to review environmental mitigation best practices within five years and every five years thereafter, but leaves mitigation choices to the Secretary.
• Does not provide new funding, specific mitigation requirements, or expanded public participation rights.
• Enables faster deployment, construction, and testing of defense-related projects that meet the certification standard, at the potential cost of environmental protections and state/local oversight.