H.R. 6163 — Determination of NEPA Adequacy Streamlining Act

This section revises the heading of Section 108 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) from "Programmatic environmental document" to "Programmatic Environmental Documents and Reliance on Previously Completed Environmental Documents," designates the existing provisions on reliance on programmatic environmental documents as subsection (a), and adds subsection (b) to authorize reliance on or modification of previously completed environmental assessments (EAs) or environmental impact statements (EISs). (NEPA generally requires federal agencies to prepare an EA or EIS—or find no significant impact—for major federal actions that may have significant environmental effects.) Subsection (b)(1) permits a lead agency to satisfy NEPA requirements for a new major federal action by relying on a prior EA or EIS completed by the lead agency, another federal agency, or a supervised project sponsor if the new action and its effects are substantially the same as the prior action or an alternative analyzed therein. Subsection (b)(2) permits a lead agency to modify such a prior EA or EIS as necessary for a new major federal action that is not substantially the same and to publicly release the modified document as a new EA or EIS. (Thus, the provision facilitates reuse of prior NEPA analyses to reduce duplication for similar actions.)