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Congressmen Yakym, Panetta bipartisan bill to improve NEPA Transparency advances in house

Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Last week, Congressman Rudy Yakym (R-IN-02) and Congressman Jimmy Panetta's (D-CA-19) bipartisan bill, the Studying NEPA's Impact on Projects Act (H.R. 573), advanced through the Natural Resources Committee under unanimous consent. This legislation will inform policymakers about the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) by requiring the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to publish an annual report on NEPA projects and outcomes, thereby ensuring greater transparency.

“The Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act is a commonsense step to bring needed transparency to a process that has too often stalled infrastructure, housing, and energy projects,” Rep. Yakym said. “By restoring these reports, and with the bipartisan work of Rep. Jimmy Panetta, we can better understand NEPA’s impact on jobs and investment and ensure recent reforms are truly working for the American people.”

“The federal permitting process for new infrastructure, housing, and energy projects can be unnecessarily long and confusing,” Rep. Panetta said. “This legislation takes a practical approach by requiring yearly assessments by the Council on Environmental Quality on the permitting process’s efficiency and effectiveness. It's encouraging to see bipartisan interest in making it easier to advance the development of affordable housing, clean energy projects, and our nation's infrastructure.”

“H.R. 573, the Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act, will give policymakers the critical information needed to make the permitting process more efficient and accountable, by reducing burdensome delays,” Rep. Bruce Westerman, Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, said. “I applaud Representative Yakym for leading this bipartisan effort to bring greater transparency to the permitting process, and I look forward to working with him to advance this important bill through Congress.”

Background:

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a well-known tactic employed to bog down infrastructure, housing, energy, and other projects in red tape and litigation. Congress has taken steps toward permitting reform, but there are some commonsense measures we can still take to promote NEPA transparency and ensure that these reforms are working.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has in the past published reports regarding NEPA litigation, paperwork burden, and length of time. However, they have either been ad hoc in nature or fallen by the wayside over time.

Bill Summary: H.R. 573, The Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act would revive these reports and combine them into a single annual report as well as track other important data to better understand NEPA’s paperwork burden across the U.S. economy. These reports include:

  1. The annual Litigation Survey, published until 2013, which examines and reports data on NEPA litigation. 
  2. A report, published in 2019 and 2020, that examines the average and median Environmental Assessment (EA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) page length; the number of draft and final EIS published; a description of trends over the previous five-years; and the costs to prepare these documents.
  3. A report, published in 2018 and 2020, that examines the average length of time it takes for a project to navigate the NEPA process, with a description of trends over the previous ten-years.

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