NEPA Data Transparency and Accountability Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 715 To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to require the submission of certain reports, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 11, 2021 Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to require the submission of certain reports, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NEPA Data Trans- 4 parency and Accountability Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REQUIRED REPORTS UNDER NEPA. 6 Title I of the National Environmental Policy Act of 7 1969 is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating section 105 (42 U.S.C. 9 4335) as section 106; and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S715.IS S715 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 715 IS (2) by inserting after section 104 (42 U.S.C. 1 4334) the following: 2 ‘‘SEC. 105. REQUIRED REPORTS. 3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 4 ‘‘(1) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT.—The 5 term ‘environmental assessment’ has the meaning 6 given the term in section 1508.9 of title 40, Code of 7 Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation). 8 ‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.— 9 The term ‘environmental impact statement’ means a 10 detailed statement required under section 102(2)(C). 11 ‘‘(3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘Federal 12 agency’ includes a State that has assumed responsi- 13 bility under section 327 of title 23, United States 14 Code. 15 ‘‘(4) HEAD OF A FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term 16 ‘head of a Federal agency’ includes the governor or 17 head of an applicable State agency of a State that 18 has assumed responsibility under section 327 of title 19 23, United States Code. 20 ‘‘(5) NEPA PROCESS.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘NEPA 22 process’ means the entirety of every process, 23 analysis, or other measure, including an envi- 24 ronmental impact statement, required to be car- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S715.IS S715 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 715 IS ried out by a Federal agency under this title be- 1 fore the agency undertakes a proposed action. 2 ‘‘(B) PERIOD.—For purposes of subpara- 3 graph (A), the NEPA process— 4 ‘‘(i) begins on the date on which the 5 head of a Federal agency receives an appli- 6 cation for a proposed action from a project 7 sponsor; and 8 ‘‘(ii) ends on the date on which the 9 Federal agency issues, with respect to the 10 proposed action— 11 ‘‘(I) a record of decision, includ- 12 ing, if necessary, a revised record of 13 decision; 14 ‘‘(II) a finding of no significant 15 impact; or 16 ‘‘(III) a categorical exclusion 17 under this title. 18 ‘‘(6) PROJECT SPONSOR.—The term ‘project 19 sponsor’ means a Federal agency or other entity, in- 20 cluding a private or public-private entity, that seeks 21 approval of a proposed action. 22 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.— 23 ‘‘(1) NEPA DATA.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S715.IS S715 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 715 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of each 1 Federal agency that carries out the NEPA 2 process shall carry out a process to track, and 3 annually submit to Congress a report con- 4 taining, the information described in subpara- 5 graph (B). 6 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The in- 7 formation referred to in subparagraph (A) is, 8 with respect to the Federal agency issuing the 9 report under that subparagraph— 10 ‘‘(i) the number of proposed actions 11 for which a categorical exclusion was 12 issued during the reporting period; 13 ‘‘(ii) the length of time the Federal 14 agency took to issue the categorical exclu- 15 sions described in clause (i); 16 ‘‘(iii) the number of proposed actions 17 pending on the date on which the report is 18 submitted for which the issuance of a cat- 19 egorical exclusion is pending; 20 ‘‘(iv) the number of proposed actions 21 for which an environmental assessment 22 was issued during the reporting period; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S715.IS S715 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 715 IS ‘‘(v) the length of time the Federal 1 agency took to complete each environ- 2 mental assessment described in clause (iv); 3 ‘‘(vi) the number of proposed actions 4 pending on the date on which the report is 5 submitted for which an environmental as- 6 sessment is being drafted; 7 ‘‘(vii) the number of proposed actions 8 for which an environmental impact state- 9 ment was issued during the reporting pe- 10 riod; 11 ‘‘(viii) the length of time the Federal 12 agency took to complete each environ- 13 mental impact statement described in 14 clause (vii); and 15 ‘‘(ix) the number of proposed actions 16 pending on the date on which the report is 17 submitted for which an environmental im- 18 pact statement is being drafted. 19 ‘‘(2) NEPA COSTS.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 21 after the date of enactment of this subsection, 22 the Chair of the Council on Environmental 23 Quality and the Director of the Office of Man- 24 agement and Budget shall jointly develop a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S715.IS S715 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 715 IS methodology to assess the comprehensive costs 1 of the NEPA process. 2 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The head of each 3 Federal agency that carries out the NEPA 4 process shall— 5 ‘‘(i) adopt the methodology developed 6 under subparagraph (A); and 7 ‘‘(ii) use the methodology developed 8 under subparagraph (A) to annually sub- 9 mit to Congress a report describing— 10 ‘‘(I) the comprehensive cost of 11 the NEPA process for each proposed 12 action that was carried out within the 13 reporting period; and 14 ‘‘(II) for a proposed action for 15 which the head of the Federal agency 16 is still completing the NEPA process 17 at the time the report is submitted— 18 ‘‘(aa) the amount of money 19 expended to date to carry out the 20 NEPA process for the proposed 21 action; and 22 ‘‘(bb) an estimate of the re- 23 maining costs before the NEPA 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S715.IS S715 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 715 IS process for the proposed action is 1 complete.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S715.IS S715 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS