On Wednesday, the Trump administration finished a big overhaul of the rules that govern the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is one of the most important environmental laws. The White House says the changes are needed to speed up federal approvals for energy and infrastructure projects and cut down on delays caused by red tape.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) told the action to happen. It cancels and rewrites important rules that tell federal agencies how to follow NEPA. For more than 50 years, the law has required agencies to think carefully about how big projects like highways, pipelines, and drilling permits might affect the environment. They also need to get the public's opinion before they can give their approval.
The Administration’s Rationale
The administration says there is a "bureaucratic burden," but critics say protections will be weaker.
Katherine Scarlett, the chair of the CEQ, said that the move was meant to bring back efficiency. She said in a statement, "The directive will cut down on unnecessary layers of bureaucratic burden and bring common sense back to the environmental review and permitting process." She also said, "Under Trump, NEPA's reign of terror over regulations has ended."
The government and many business groups have long said that NEPA's process is misused to cause long, expensive delays that stop important projects from moving forward. Some Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree that the review system has become too complicated and are working on making it easier to use.
Criticism From Environmental Groups and Lawmakers
But environmental groups, community activists, and many Democratic lawmakers all said that the rollback of regulations was a serious weakening of a key public safety measure. They say it will make things less clear, limit community input, and let projects that could be bad for the environment, climate, or public health go ahead without enough review.
Connection to the Congressional Debate
As Congress talks about a related push for new laws, the regulatory change happens. The Republican-led House passed a bill that would set legal time limits on reviews, limit the types of projects that need full analysis, and make it harder for people and groups to legally challenge approvals.
There is agreement on both sides that the permitting process needs to be changed, but there are still big differences. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico are Democrats who say that the House bill goes too far in shutting down public voice and judicial oversight. They also say that recent actions by the administration, like suddenly stopping five big offshore wind projects because of national security concerns, have hurt the trust that is needed for a bipartisan compromise.
What Will Change with the New Rule?
The administration's goal is to:
- Limit the number of environmental effects that agencies have to think about.
- Make the time limits for finishing environmental reviews shorter.
- Make it easier to look at long-term and cumulative effects, like the effects of climate change.
- Limit how long public comment periods can last.
What Comes Next
The move is one of the most important steps the administration has taken to get rid of regulations. It fits with the administration's larger goal of putting fossil fuel development and infrastructure growth ahead of everything else. Environmental groups are likely to file lawsuits right away, which will lead to a long fight in court over the future of environmental review in the US.
