U.S. MOVES TO RESTORE CLIMATE ANALYSES FOR PROJECTS
Proposes bringing back key parts of environmental law
The White House proposed restoring parts of one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws Wednesday, requiring agencies to conduct a climate analysis of major projects and give affected communities greater input into the process.
If finalized, the move to change how the government reviews pipelines, highways and other projects under the National Environmental Policy Act would reverse a significant rollback by the Donald Trump administration. While the proposal won praise from environmentalists, it came under criticism from developers and could make it harder to upgrade the aging bridges and roads President Joe Biden has pledged to rebuild.
Brenda Mallory, who chairs the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement that the changes would not delay major projects because they would make it easier to forge a consensus on how they would be built.
“The basic community safeguards we are proposing to restore would help ensure that American infrastructure gets built right the first time, and delivers real benefits — not harms — to people who live nearby,” she said. “Patching these holes in the environmental review process will help reduce conflict and litigation and help clear up some of the uncertainty that the previous administration’s rule caused.”
Mallory added that the move would restore the law’s focus on climate change, a top diplomatic priority for Biden ahead of a United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, next month.
In addition, the White House said the proposed rule would encourage agencies to study alternatives to projects that face opposition from affected communities, and it would clarify that the law’s requirements are “a floor, rather than a ceiling” when it comes to environmental reviews.
Last year, President Donald Trump overhauled the way agencies applied the National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA, on the grounds that it imposed too many costs and requirements on developers. The law requires the federal government to analyze the impact of a major project or federal action on the environment — and to seek public input — before approving it.
Activists have used the 51year-old law as an effective tool to delay the construction of many large projects through court challenges. A contested federal review of the Keystone XL pipeline, for example, extended the process for so long that Biden was able to block it even though Trump approved the project just after taking office.
Under the Trump rule, some projects and activities were subject to shorter environmental reviews, while others were exempted from environmental reviews altogether. And in one of the most contentious changes, agencies were directed not to assess projects’ “indirect” or “cumulative” impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.
The proposed rule represents the first phase of a twostep regulatory process. In the coming months, the White House plans to propose a second, broader set of changes that officials said would address how agencies should consider climate change and provide greater certainty for industry groups while conducting reviews under the law.