SPEED Act

What this does

This bill rewrites NEPA to speed federal permitting and shrink environmental review: it declares NEPA purely procedural, narrows reviewable effects to proximate causes, sets hard permitting deadlines, locks completed reviews and authorizations in place, and sharply limits court challenges (substantial deference, remand-only remedy, 150-day filing bar).

House vote · 221-196

Democrats11–195

Republicans210–1

Independents0–0

How we know · 13 sourced claims

Congress declares NEPA a purely procedural statute that confers no substantive rights and mandates no environmental outcome.Source: Sec. 2(a), amending NEPA Sec. 2 (42 U.S.C. 4321): new subsection (b), line 21
Agencies may weigh only effects proximately caused by the immediate project, and may not consider effects that are speculative, attenuated, separate in time or place, or tied to separate existing or future projects.Source: Sec. 2(b)(4), new NEPA Sec. 106(c) 'Scope of review', lines 31-32; and Sec. 2(f), new definition of 'reasonably foreseeable', NEPA Sec. 111(15), lines 132-135
Agencies are not required to consider scientific or technical research that becomes available after the application is filed or the notice of intent is published, and may not delay a decision to await such research.Source: Sec. 2(c)(2), new NEPA Sec. 107(b)(2) 'Consideration timing' and 'Delay', lines 70-74
The bill sets a 60-day deadline to notify an applicant whether an application is complete, a 60-day deadline after a complete determination to set the review path, and a 30-day deadline after a study is completed to issue a final agency action.Source: Sec. 2(c)(4), new NEPA Sec. 107(g)(1)(A) (60 days, line 80), (g)(1)(B)(i) (60 days, line 85), and new (g)(4) 'Deadline for final agency action' (30 days, line 100)
Completed environmental documents and issued authorizations are locked in place, revocable only on narrow grounds such as a court order, material breach by the holder, fraud, or a request by the holder.Source: Sec. 2(b)(4), new NEPA Sec. 106(d)(1) 'Environmental documents' (line 34) and (d)(2)(A) 'Authorizations' revocation grounds (lines 38-40)
Courts must afford agencies substantial deference and may not substitute their judgment for the agency's on environmental effects.Source: Sec. 3, new NEPA Sec. 110B(a) 'Role of the court', lines 141-142
The only remedy a court may order for a NEPA violation is remand without vacatur or injunction, and the challenged final agency action remains in effect during the remand.Source: Sec. 3, new NEPA Sec. 110B(b) 'Remand', paragraphs (1) and (2), lines 146-149
Suits must be filed within 150 days, only by a party that raised the issue in a public comment and faces direct harm.Source: Sec. 3, new NEPA Sec. 110B(c)(1) 'Limitations on claims', subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), lines 153-155
Trial courts must issue a final judgment within 180 days of the agency record being filed.Source: Sec. 3, new NEPA Sec. 110B(d)(1) 'Deadline for resolution', line 164
The provision of federal funds alone no longer triggers NEPA review.Source: Sec. 2(f)(4)(B), new NEPA Sec. 111 'major Federal action' subparagraph (C) 'Additional exclusions', line 130
The period an agency may rely on an existing programmatic environmental study is doubled from 5 years to 10 years.Source: Sec. 2(d)(2)-(3), amending NEPA Sec. 108 (42 U.S.C. 4336b) paragraphs (1) and (2), striking 5 and inserting 10, line 111
For projects on tribal trust land initiated by the tribe, there is a presumption that taking no action harms the tribe, and most non-tribal challenges are barred.Source: Sec. 2(b)(4), new NEPA Sec. 106(e) presumption (line 53); and Sec. 3, new NEPA Sec. 110B(c)(3) 'Actions for use of tribal trust resources', lines 159-160
Every section of the bill amends the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, making it single-subject with no unrelated rider.Source: Sec. 2 (amends NEPA Secs. 2, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 204), Sec. 3 (adds NEPA Sec. 110B), Sec. 4 (transition rule for this Act); all under 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., lines 16-175

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House roll call

The full roll call

R207–1D11–193I1–0

Position

Party

State

Republicans

216

Democrats

210

Independents

YeaKevin KileyCA · District 3