§157 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 reporting program

Summary

Requires the Secretary to keep track of NEPA work for Department of Transportation actions and to send one annual report to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The report covers the previous fiscal year. Key terms (one line each): categorical exclusion — a type of action that normally needs no detailed NEPA study; documented categorical exclusion — a categorical exclusion with a short written record; environmental assessment (EA) — a shorter NEPA study; environmental impact statement (EIS) — a detailed NEPA study; Federal agency — includes a State that took over certain duties under section 327; NEPA process — all analysis, decisions, public and agency steps required under NEPA; proposed action — a DOT action the Secretary plans to carry out; reporting period — the fiscal year before the report; Secretary — includes the State governor or head of a State agency when the State has assumed responsibility under section 327. The report must give counts and timing for CEs, documented CEs, EAs, and EISs completed during the reporting period; counts of pending documented CEs, EAs, and EISs being drafted when the report is made; how long each EA and EIS took to finish; and, for the pending EAs and EISs, the percentage that have funding and the percentage that have all required federal, State, and local approvals. For timing, an EIS NEPA process starts when the Notice of Intent is published in the Federal Register and ends with the record of decision (including a revised record if needed). An EA NEPA process starts when the Secretary decides to prepare an EA and ends with a finding of no significant impact or a decision to prepare an EIS.