23 U.S.C. § 157 — National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 reporting program

(a) Definitions. This subsection defines terms used in the section. "Categorical exclusion" has the meaning given in section 771.117(c) of title 23 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or whatever regulation replaces it. "Documented categorical exclusion" has the meaning given in section 771.117(d) of that same title of regulations, or its successor. "Environmental assessment" has the meaning given in section 1508.1 of title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or its successor. "Environmental impact statement" means the detailed statement required under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. "Federal agency" includes a state that has taken over environmental review responsibility under section 327. "NEPA process" means the entire job of developing and documenting the environmental analysis the National Environmental Policy Act requires, including studying impacts, alternatives, and ways to reduce harm, plus any required coordination with other agencies and the public, all done before the Secretary carries out a proposed action. "Proposed action" means an action under this title that the Secretary proposes to carry out, as that term is used in the National Environmental Policy Act. "Reporting period" means the fiscal year right before the fiscal year when a report under subsection (b) is issued. "Secretary" includes the governor, or the head of the relevant state agency, in a state that has taken over responsibility under section 327. (b) Report on NEPA data. The Secretary must set up a process to track certain information, and must send an annual report containing it to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. For counting purposes, the NEPA process for an environmental impact statement starts when the Notice of Intent is published in the Federal Register, and ends when the Secretary issues a record of decision, including a revised one if needed. For an environmental assessment, the process starts when the Secretary decides to prepare one, and ends when the Secretary either issues a finding of no significant impact or decides a full environmental impact statement is needed instead. The report must include, for the Department of Transportation: (A) how many proposed actions got a categorical exclusion during the reporting period; (B) how many got a documented categorical exclusion during the reporting period; (C) how many pending proposed actions, as of the report date, are still waiting on a documented categorical exclusion; (D) how many proposed actions got an environmental assessment during the reporting period; (E) how long each of those environmental assessments took to finish; (F) how many pending proposed actions, as of the report date, have an environmental assessment still being drafted; (G) how many proposed actions got a finished environmental impact statement during the reporting period; (H) how long each of those environmental impact statements took to finish; (I) how many pending proposed actions, as of the report date, have an environmental impact statement still being drafted; and (J) for the actions counted in (F) and (I), what percentage have funding identified and have completed all other required federal, state, and local steps needed to move forward.