Studying Nepa's Impact on Projects Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Representative Yakym's Studying NEPA's Impact on Projects Act. This legislation would direct agencies to submit to the Council on Environmental Quality an annual report on NEPA lawsuits filed, the basis for the legal claim, and the outcome, if applicable.

I believe these reports will show there are far fewer NEPA lawsuits holding up projects than my colleagues across the aisle sometimes argue about, but regardless, this will be good data for decisionmakers to have.

The bill would also require reporting on the time it takes agencies to complete environmental impact statements and the number of pages of those analyses. The Council on Environmental Quality will then report annually on average lengths of time, page counts, and any directional trends.

I appreciate the majority working with us to also include requirements for disaggregating reporting to show page limits and timelines pre- and post-passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. This law placed new limits on page counts and 2-year deadlines for environmental impact statements. It will be important for us to know if these new requirements are really working.

Mr. Speaker, again, I support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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