Sponsors (7)
The bill increases transparency and data-driven oversight of NEPA processes and helps project planning, at the cost of additional administrative and compliance burdens and the risk of greater legal scrutiny or politicization.
Federal agencies, Congress, and the public will receive annual, standardized, detailed data on NEPA litigation outcomes, EIS timelines, and costs, improving accountability and enabling evidence-based congressional and agency oversight.
Project sponsors, cooperating agencies, and lead agencies can use reported timeline and cost estimates to plan and budget EIS preparation more accurately, reducing uncertainty in project delivery and improving project management.
Lead federal agencies will incur new administrative burdens and direct costs to compile, analyze, and publish the required litigation, timeline, and cost data annually, increasing workload and taxpayer expense.
Preparing and publishing granular cost and timeline data may raise compliance and reporting costs for project sponsors and cooperating agencies and could slow project approvals or implementation.
Public disclosure of litigation details and court records could expose agencies and projects to increased legal scrutiny and politicization of NEPA cases, potentially chilling agency decision‑making or provoking more litigation.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Mandates annual CEQ reporting by lead federal agencies on NEPA-related litigation and five-year EIS metrics and cost estimates, starting July 1, 2026.
Official title: Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act
Introduced January 21, 2025 by Rudy Yakym · Last progress December 10, 2025
Requires each lead federal agency to send an annual report to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) starting July 1, 2026, with detailed information about every civil action alleging a NEPA violation that was active during the reporting period and summary metrics on Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) prepared over the prior five years. Reports must include case counts, plaintiffs and defendants, courts, allegations by sector, case outcomes, award amounts, and timelines, plus detailed EIS metrics (page counts, appendix sizes, counts by agency), cost estimates to prepare EISs, and trend comparisons to prior CEQ reports. Directs CEQ to receive and aggregate these agency reports and requires agencies to update award information learned after submission in the next report; it also mandates certain disaggregation of data (including before/after comparisons through 2028 tied to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023) and a breakdown of estimated EIS preparation costs by personnel, contractor, and other direct costs where practicable.