Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act

This bill, known as the "Studying NEPA's Impact on Projects Act," amends the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to require the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to publish an annual report. This report, to be made publicly available online and submitted to Congress, aims to provide detailed insights into the implementation and impacts of NEPA. The annual report must include comprehensive data on causes of action based on alleged non-compliance with NEPA, identifying the defendant agency, lead plaintiff, court, alleged basis, and the status or outcome of each case. It also mandates reporting on the length of environmental impact statements (EIS) and environmental assessments (EA) , including average and median page counts and trends over time. Furthermore, the CEQ must detail the total cost to prepare EIS and EA documents , covering personnel, contractor, and other direct costs for lead agencies, and where practicable, for cooperating agencies. The report will also track timelines to complete EIS documents , providing key dates for project applications, scoping, publication of draft and final EIS, and records of decision, along with average and median completion times and trends. Finally, it requires a comprehensive list of categorical exclusions used by each federal agency, noting the total number and those established or revised during the covered year. All reported information must be disaggregated by project type and specific covered sectors, and the underlying data used to prepare the report must be made publicly available.