The White House Council on Environmental Quality today announced a final rule effective May 20 that modifies National Environmental Policy Act regulations to (1) require federal agencies to evaluate all relevant environmental impacts of decisions under review (direct, indirect, and cumulative); (2) provide agencies with authority to work with communities to develop and analyze alternative approaches that could minimize environmental and public health costs; and (3) establish CEQ’s NEPA regulations as a floor for environmental review standards that agencies should be meeting.
CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory said that “[r]estoring these basic community safeguards will provide regulatory certainty, reduce conflict, and help ensure that projects get built right the first time,” adding that “[p]atching these holes in the environmental review process will help projects get built faster, be more resilient, and provide greater benefits– to people who live nearby.”
CEQ called the rule the first step in a two-phase approach to reform and modernize NEPA regulations, stating that a Phase 2 rulemaking will be proposed in the coming months that will “provide further improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of environmental review processes and reflect the Administration’s commitment to achieving environmental justice and confronting climate change.”
