Regulations would limit projects that require environmental review and no longer require agencies to weigh climate impacts
The Trump administration
is set to unveil new regulations which would limit the types of
projects like highways and pipelines that require environmental review
and no longer require federal agencies to weigh their climate impacts,
sources familiar with the plan said.
The proposed overhaul will update how federal agencies implement the bedrock National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa), a law meant to ensure the government protects the environment when reviewing or making decisions about major projects, from building roads and bridges, cutting forests, expanding broadband to approving interstate pipelines such as the Keystone XL.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is expected to
announce that federal agencies will not be required to consider
cumulative climate crisis impacts when considering federal projects,
said two people familiar with the CEQ rule-making.The proposed overhaul will update how federal agencies implement the bedrock National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa), a law meant to ensure the government protects the environment when reviewing or making decisions about major projects, from building roads and bridges, cutting forests, expanding broadband to approving interstate pipelines such as the Keystone XL.
The CEQ oversees how nearly 80 government agencies meet their Nepa obligations. It is also expected to limit the scope of projects that would trigger stringent reviews called environmental impact studies, expand the number of project categories that can be excluded from Nepa reviews and allow companies or project developers to conduct their own environmental assessments, the sources said.
CEQ declined to comment.
In a memorandum commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of Nepa on 1 January, Donald Trump said the Nepa overhaul would speed up permit approvals for “project sponsors and ordinary Americans”.
“CEQ has conducted a thorough review of its Nepa implementing regulations and will soon issue a proposal to update those regulations to address the many concerns my administration has heard from hardworking Americans, small businesses, and state and local officials,” Trump said.
Environmental groups are concerned that by weakening Nepa implementation, the US will lose a significant tool to combat and guard against climate crisis impacts and allow companies to harm local communities with less scrutiny.
Christy Goldfuss, chair of the CEQ between 2015 and 2017, said the Trump proposal would cause lasting damage. She said environmental groups have successfully blocked or delayed a dozen big polluting projects in courts by arguing that Trump agencies failed to weigh climate impacts in their reviews, a requirement created under the Obama administration.
“This proposal is really about trying to remove that barrier of the courts,” she said.
Stephen Schima, lead Nepa attorney for Earthjustice, said weakening Nepa implementation would deprive local communities of “the most widespread mechanism of citizen involvement in government”.
In November, more than 30 of the country’s biggest industry groups, ranging from the Chamber of Commerce to the American Petroleum Institute, called on CEQ to hurry the release of the Nepa “modernization”, saying it was long overdue.
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