The CLEAR Act of 2025 is designed to reduce repeated lawsuits over energy projects by establishing a 'one lawsuit rule.' Once a court has made a final decision on any legal challenge to an energy project—whether it involves a power plant, oil pipeline, wind farm, or critical mineral extraction facility—no one can file another lawsuit challenging any aspect of that same project. This applies to all the permits, licenses, and approvals the project received from government agencies. The law covers energy projects involving electricity generation and transmission, fossil fuels, and critical minerals needed for energy production and national security.

The bill also makes it harder to win these lawsuits by changing how courts review government decisions. Instead of carefully examining whether agencies followed proper procedures, courts must now assume the agency acted reasonably unless it clearly abused its authority. If a court does find problems with how an agency approved a project, it can only send the decision back to the agency to fix the specific errors—and the agency has only 180 days to do so. Meanwhile, the original approval stays in effect. Additionally, anyone wanting to sue must file within 150 days of the agency's final decision, and if there was a public comment period, they must have submitted detailed comments during that period raising the same issues they later sue about. The law does not prevent lawsuits about violations that happen after a project starts operating, nor does it stop government enforcement actions.