This bill sets rules for court challenges and reauthorization of approvals (licenses, permits, consultations, etc.) needed for projects under many environmental and land laws. It defines an "initial authorization" and requires most lawsuits over those initial authorizations to be filed within 120 days. If a court finds an agency failed to follow the law, the default remedy is to remand the authorization back to the agency rather than vacating or blocking it, unless there is an imminent and substantial danger to health or the environment. The bill limits who may sue: a person can sue over an approval only if they will suffer a "direct and tangible harm" not analyzed during the initial authorization.
If a permit is enjoined, remanded, or vacated, the project sponsor and the agency must use a mediation process run by the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. The sponsor and agency must each submit remediation proposals within 60 days (with a sponsor-eligible extension of up to 120 days). The Council must help produce a final remediation plan within 60 days after proposals are submitted; that plan must be 50 pages or fewer and the agency must reauthorize the project within 15 days of the plan. Final remediation plans are not subject to further judicial review by people or groups other than the project sponsor. The bill also sets venue rules (file suits where the project is located or where the largest investment is), encourages random case assignment by courts, and requires the Council to run a public database of any permit-related claim not decided within 90 days of judge assignment and to publish regular reports. The bill applies to projects and pending reviews that existed before enactment. It also amends NEPA to state that NEPA (and related APA actions) does not by itself create a judicial right of action to challenge approvals that used an applicable environmental review.
No publicly available information on estimated costs, budget effects, or funding in the text of the bill.
The bill prescribes timing and procedures for judicial review and for resolving judicially ordered problems through a Council-led mediation and remediation plan. It makes remand the default remedy rather than vacatur, sets filing and follow-up deadlines, limits post-remediation court challenges, and requires public reporting on slow cases. These provisions are presented in the bill as the mechanisms to manage and speed resolution of authorization disputes for projects covered by the listed statutes.
No publicly available information on opponents' views in the bill text or supplied metadata.