Bill > S3305

This bill, known as the CLEAR Act of 2025, establishes new rules for legal challenges to energy project authorizations, significantly limiting the ability to file repeated lawsuits. The bill defines an "energy project" broadly to include facilities for generating, transmitting, or storing electric energy, producing fossil fuels, and extracting critical minerals. It introduces a "single action rule" that prevents subsequent legal actions against an energy project once an initial legal challenge has been fully adjudicated by a court, regardless of the parties involved or the specific aspect of the project being challenged. The bill restricts judicial review by setting a high bar for courts to overturn agency decisions, requiring proof of substantial discretion abuse in procedural requirements. Legal challenges must now be filed within 150 days of the final agency action and can only be brought by parties who submitted detailed, substantive comments during the original public comment period. The bill's preclusive effects can only be asserted by the federal agency that issued the project authorization or the project sponsor, and it maintains exceptions for reviewing operational violations or enforcement actions after project completion. Essentially, the legislation aims to streamline energy project approvals and reduce prolonged litigation that could delay critical infrastructure development.

Justice

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3305/all-info