The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4776, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act. This limits the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and modifies the environmental review of major federal actions under NEPA to generally limit the number of federal actions that trigger NEPA review and to expedite the review process.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a procedural law that sets guidelines for evaluating the environmental impact of all major federal actions and established the Council on Environmental Quality. The procedural requirements in NEPA apply to all major federal actions, including the construction of critical infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, highways, ports, irrigation systems, forest management, transmission lines, energy projects, broadband, and water infrastructure.