On Monday, four federal agencies revoked longstanding regulations to carry out the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. In some cases, new regulations were proposed to replace them; in others, the regulations are replaced by nonbinding guidance.
In all cases, the regulations significantly weaken the implementation of the statute by cutting the public out of NEPA reviews and eliminating all references to consider climate change, environmental justice, and other important environmental issues.
Agencies taking action Monday include the Department of Agriculture (which includes the U.S. Forest Service), Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Other federal agencies are expected to issue similar standards in the days ahead.
“NEPA – the People’s Environmental Law – plays a vital role in ensuring that government decisions are transparent, well-informed, and accountable to the public,” Andre Segura, vice president of litigation for Earthjustice, an environmental organization, said in a statement. “Collectively, today’s actions reverse that promise and fundamentally undermine the public’s ability to participate in federal decision-making processes.”
Segura said the Biden administration made clear the requirements that agencies consider climate change, environmental justice, and local communities when performing NEPA reviews.
“The Trump administration has thrown those standards in the trash and cut people out of the people’s environmental law,” he said.
