White House Rolls Back Federal Overreach Through Deregulation

WASHINGTON, DC – President Trump announced the Administration’s policy change regarding the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on Thursday.

The Act, signed into law in 1970, requires Federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of proposed major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the environment.

NEPA’s requirements apply to a broad range of actions from the construction of roads, bridges, highways, transmission lines, conventional and renewable energy projects, broadband deployment, and water infrastructure to the management of activities on Federal lands, such as grazing, forest management, and wildfire protection to environmental restoration and other projects.

On June 12, 2020, the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) found that over the past decade, the average time for agencies to complete an environmental impact statement (EIS) was 4.5 years while current guidance suggests that this process, even for complex projects, should not take more than one year. The Council estimates that just 20 of the Administration’s deregulatory actions will save consumers and businesses over $220 billion per year. This is a major rule subject to congressional review and the effective date is September 14, 2020.

The updated NEPA rule does not change the law, but rather, improves the management, interpretation, and engagement of NEPA processes. This includes establishing time limits of two years for environmental impact statements and one year for environmental assessments (EAs), codifying relevant case law and determining appropriate levels of environmental review, expanding outreach and utilized technologies, and ensuring meaningful and effective environmental reviews.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)