S. 3224 — SPEED Act

This section amends Section 2 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to clarify its purposes and add subsections on intent and effect. The intent subsection states that NEPA is procedural, ensures agencies consider environmental impacts during decisionmaking without mandating results, and prescribes only procedural processes. The effect subsection provides that NEPA mandates no specific environmental outcomes and confers no substantive rights or duties beyond procedural requirements. This section revises Section 106 of NEPA, which governs determinations of the appropriate level of environmental review (i.e., categorical exclusion, environmental assessment (EA), or environmental impact statement (EIS)) for proposed agency actions. It expands criteria for no review to include actions covered by another statute serving a similar function or by qualifying state or tribal environmental reviews; changes the EA threshold from actions that "do not" have significant effects to those "not likely to" have such effects; limits requirements for new scientific or technical research; restricts review scope to effects proximately caused by the action (excluding speculative, attenuated, or separate effects); and prohibits agencies from rescinding, amending, or otherwise invalidating completed environmental documents absent a court order. (Thus, agencies may more readily exclude actions from full NEPA review and narrow analysis to direct, immediate impacts.) This section further amends Section 107 of NEPA, which requires timely and unified federal reviews. It limits cooperating agencies to matters within their jurisdiction and bars them from requiring environmental documents if the lead agency determines none is needed; restricts consideration of new scientific or technical research to information available by the earlier of an application's receipt or a notice of intent; conditions deadline extensions on applicant approval and limits project sponsors' ability to sue over missed deadlines if they approved an extension.

This section adds a new section 113 to Title I of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to establish standards and procedures for judicial review of claims that a final agency action—which is defined by reference to 5 U.S.C. 551—does not comply with NEPA's procedural requirements (i.e., preparation of environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, findings of no significant impact, or categorical exclusions). Notwithstanding the Administrative Procedure Act (APA, 5 U.S.C. ch. 7), a court may find noncompliance only if the agency abused its substantial discretion in following those requirements and would have reached a different result absent the abuse; courts may not substitute their judgment for the agency's on a proposed action's environmental effects. If noncompliance is found, courts must remand to the agency with specific correction instructions and a deadline of no more than 180 days (from enactment for pre-enactment orders or from order entry for later ones), and the remanded action remains in effect during correction. Claims are barred unless filed within 150 days of public notice (or shorter time if specified by law); for actions with public comment periods, filed by a party that submitted a timely substantive and unique comment alerting the agency to the issue and showing direct harm, and limited to that subject matter; and not challenging categorical exclusions. Claims on supplemental environmental documents issued post-remand restart the 150-day clock and are limited to new information. Courts must resolve claims expeditiously and no later than 180 days after the agency record is filed (due within 30 days of claim filing); appeals require a notice within 60 days and resolution within 180 days. Completion of an environmental assessment, environmental impact statement, finding of no significant impact, or categorical exclusion determination is not a final agency action under APA chapter 7. The section does not affect review of compliance with other NEPA deadlines, such as section 107(g)(3).