The CLEAR Act restricts lawsuits challenging federal approvals for energy projects by allowing only one legal challenge per project. Once a court has ruled on any aspect of an energy project's authorizations—whether for power generation, fossil fuel infrastructure, or critical mineral extraction—no subsequent lawsuits can be filed about that same project in any federal or state court, regardless of which parties bring the suit or what specific authorization is challenged. The bill defines "final adjudication" narrowly to only apply when a case has been fully decided on the merits and appeals are exhausted. This restriction primarily benefits federal agencies and project sponsors, who are the only parties allowed to invoke the preclusion rule. The law also changes how courts review these cases by requiring judges to defer substantially to agency decisions and limiting judicial review to only cases where an agency has "abused its discretion." Additionally, lawsuits must be filed within 150 days of an agency's final decision, and only parties who submitted detailed public comments during the permit review process can challenge the same issues they raised in those comments.
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