What is in EPA's environmental impact statement database?
The EISs, plus the letters EPA writes on every draft EIS under Clean Air Act section 309[4]. For project questions, EPA sends you to the lead agency[1]. No environmental assessments: e-NEPA takes EISs only, not EAs or stand-alone records of decision[5].
New filings appear in a weekly Federal Register notice of availability. Each Friday, or Thursday when Friday is a federal holiday, EPA publishes one listing every EIS filed the week before; amended notices carry corrections and withdrawals[2]. The October 2, 2026 notice lists FERC's final EIS for the Sabine Pass Stage 5 Expansion in Texas and NHTSA's final supplemental EIS for the SAFE Vehicles Rule III[6].
How to search the EPA EIS database and read a record
For a precedent, filter by the agency that does your kind of work and your state, then by title words like solar or highway.
A title search for Hope Solar returns one record: TVA's draft EIS for the Hope Solar and Storage Project in Mississippi, No. 20260126. It shows the notice of intent on March 13, 2025, the draft in the Federal Register 18 months later on September 25, 2026, a 189-page PDF and EPA's one-page letter of the same day. No rating: EPA stopped rating draft EISs in October 2018[7].
How do I download EPA EIS database results and documents?
Export each search to CSV, one month of Federal Register dates at a time: a search returns at most 500 records[1], and the CSV link sits on the results page[8]. The export has no notice of intent (NOI) date. Each record's details page does, but check it against the NOI in the Federal Register; it was wrong in 10 of 116 records we checked[9].
For a record's PDFs, complete the ALTCHA check on its page, then download the EIS and EPA's letters[7]. A large EIS may come in several PDFs, since e-NEPA caps each public file at 125 MB[5].
What does the EIS database show about the 2-year limit?
Fewer than half of the EISs begun under it reached a final EIS within two years of the notice of intent: 64 of 142 NOIs published June 3, 2023 to September 30, 2024, or 45.1%[9]. That is a best case, since the clock can start before the NOI, and a lead agency may extend a deadline, which the database doesn't show[10].
Counting only finished EISs gives a higher share, because unfinished ones are left out: of 111 finals filed June 3, 2024 to September 30, 2026 on NOIs from June 3, 2023 on, 92 (82.9%) came within two years, a median 504 days. And 73 of 167 final EISs filed January 2025 to September 2026 (43.7%) had NOIs before June 3, 2023, a median 4.24 years before the final[9].
| Status on September 30, 2026 | NOIs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Final EIS within two years of the NOI | 64 | 45.1% |
| Final EIS after two years | 19 | 13.4% |
| Draft EIS, no final yet | 20 | 14.1% |
| Draft EIS withdrawn | 1 | 0.7% |
| Nothing filed with EPA | 38 | 26.8% |