Trump Targets To Gut NEPA In Effort To Cut Environmental Review Timelines

The Office of Management and Budget’s online regulatory docket is currently showing a proposed rule titled “Removal of National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations” and has been categorized as an interim final rule. Early indications on the docket suggest that the administration may forgo the usual notice-and-comment process, though official details have not yet been published.

The rule comes on the heels of a new executive order from President Donald Trump revoking a 1977 order that previously empowered the Council on Environmental Quality to issue and oversee NEPA regulations. The new EO reportedly directs the CEQ to rescind existing NEPA regulations and replace them with guidance aimed at accelerating federal project approvals and potentially narrowing the range of actions subject to environmental reviews.

NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their proposed actions before making decisions, which includes preparation of Environmental Assessments or more detailed Environmental Impact Statements.

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The NEPA’s statutory language, first enacted in 1970, is originally a five-page statute. Subsequent regulatory expansions have made compliance more complex and time-consuming than what the statute alone might suggest. Multiple studies and government reports have noted that NEPA reviews can take several years for large-scale projects.

Earlier, a joint report by the Institute for Progress and the Foundation for American Innovation offers a detailed vision for how the White House and CEQ “can reform NEPA.”

• Narrow the scope of “major federal action” so that projects with minimal federal funding or minimal agency discretion would no longer trigger NEPA.
• Expand the list of actions eligible for Categorical Exclusions, removing the requirement to conduct environmental assessments if most comparable projects historically have not had significant impacts.
• Revise the definition of “significant effect” and “reasonably foreseeable” so only direct, major impacts within the federal agency’s clear control undergo full environmental impact statements.

If the pending rule is finalized, it would remove or overhaul the current NEPA implementing regulations. This could make environmental review processes faster and potentially limit the scope of public input, especially where projects receive less substantial federal funding or where agencies have minimal discretionary authority.

Legal scholars note, however, that any such significant change to NEPA regulations is likely to face litigation from environmental organizations.

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