The BUILDER Act of 2023 is designed to speed up the environmental review process for federal projects while maintaining environmental protections. Right now, when the government approves major projects like highways, pipelines, or development, it has to prepare detailed environmental impact statements that can take years to complete. This bill sets strict deadlines: agencies must finish environmental impact statements within 2 years and environmental assessments within 1 year, or they have to pay the project applicant $100 per day for delays. If an agency misses these deadlines, it must report to Congress explaining why.

The bill also clarifies and streamlines how environmental reviews work. It limits environmental impact statements to 150 pages (or 300 for complex projects) and environmental assessments to 75 pages, making them more concise and readable. When multiple federal agencies are involved in a project, the bill requires them to clearly designate one "lead agency" to coordinate the review, reducing confusion and duplicate work. Agencies can now use existing data instead of conducting new research, and they only need to consider environmental effects that actually occur on federal land or are under federal control.

Finally, the bill makes it harder to challenge projects in court after environmental reviews are complete. Lawsuits must be filed within 120 days and only by people who participated in the public comment period and raised specific concerns. Courts can no longer stop a project just because of environmental concerns—they can only halt it if allowing it would cause immediate, serious environmental harm with no other legal remedy available. The bill also requires a study on creating an online portal where applicants can submit documents and track their applications in one place, improving transparency and coordination between agencies.

BUILDER Act of 2023

Graves, Garret

BUILDER Act of 2023 or the Building United States Infrastructure through Limited Delays and Efficient Reviews Act of 2023 This bill places limits on the environmental review of proposed major federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and establishes deadlines and other requirements to expedite the environmental review of such actions. Specifically, the bill limits the scope of the environmental review of major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment as specified by the bill. The bill also specifies the thresholds that trigger when agencies must issue environmental assessments and environmental impact statements for proposed agency actions, outlines when agencies are not required to prepare environmental documents for such actions, and establishes deadlines to complete such documents. The bill also establishes a process for designating a lead federal agency as well as a joint lead agency, such as a state government, to supervise the environmental review under NEPA. The lead agency must supervise the preparation of one environmental document (e.g., environmental impact statement), which satisfies the document requirement for all involved agencies, and prepare a schedule to complete the review of the action. If the lead agency is unable to meet the deadlines, it must pay $100 per day to the applicant until the applicant approves a new deadline. A lead agency may allow a project sponsor to prepare environmental documents under specified circumstances. Additionally, the bill limits judicial review of NEPA cases, including by establishing deadlines to file lawsuits under NEPA.