Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act

This bill, called the Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act, would require the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to post a public report every year about environmental reviews and lawsuits under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The first report would be due July 1, 2025, and each report would cover activity from June 1 of the prior year through June 1 of the current year.

Each report must show details about NEPA lawsuits (who sued whom, which court handled the case, and the result), track how long and how big key review documents are, list the total costs to prepare them, and show how long each step took. It must also include each agency’s list of “categorical exclusions” for projects and any changes made that year. CEQ has to break the data out by project type and by sectors like aviation and space, broadband, energy, mining, pipelines, ports and waterways, transportation, IT infrastructure, water resources, and forestry, and must publish the underlying data for the public to use .

• Who is affected: CEQ; federal agencies that lead NEPA reviews; other federal partners; and, for cost reporting, applicants and contractors. Projects across sectors such as aviation and space, broadband, energy, mining, pipelines, ports and waterways, transportation, IT infrastructure, water, and forestry are included .
• What changes: CEQ must publish a yearly online report with lawsuit details and outcomes; document lengths, counts, and trends; total preparation costs; review timelines; and each agency’s categorical exclusions, with all data broken out by project type and sector and posted for public use .
• When: Starting July 1, 2025, and every year after, covering the period from June 1 to June 1.