Federal environmental permits — for things like building roads, pipelines, or energy projects — currently involve mountains of paperwork spread across multiple agencies with little coordination. The ePermit Act would require all federal agencies that handle environmental reviews to switch to shared digital tools and a single online portal where project applications, public comments, timelines, and decisions are tracked in real time. Project sponsors would submit everything through one unified system instead of filing separately with each agency. Communities affected by proposed projects would get better access to information through interactive maps, public comment tracking, and automatic notifications about reviews happening in their area. The bill also directs agencies to use AI-assisted tools for analyzing past decisions and sorting through public comments, with Congress retaining oversight access to those AI systems and their training data. Federal agencies would have roughly six months to begin implementing the new standards, with a full unified system targeted for December 2027.
Congressional Summary
ePermit ActThis bill establishes requirements related to digitizing environmental reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) must develop, publish, and iteratively update data standards for the collection and curation of certain data related to environmental reviews. CEQ must also design, test, and build prototype tools for environmental reviews.Additionally, CEQ must publish guidance to assist relevant agencies in implementing such standards as well as certain minimum functional requirements, such as data sharing that enables automated transfer of relevant data among federal agencies. Federal agencies responsible for environmental reviews or authorizations must implement the data standards and such minimum functional requirements.To the maximum extent practicable, CEQ and such agencies must iteratively develop and maintain a unified interagency data system consisting of interconnected federal agency systems and shared services for environmental reviews and authorizations, including a common interactive, digital, cloud-based authorization portal.Within a year, CEQ must oversee a pilot of shared services for environmental reviews and authorizations, including the portal. To the maximum extent practicable, CEQ must develop and implement the unified interagency data system by December 1, 2027.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-02-05
- Date Added
- 2026-04-09