Trump Administration Moves To Streamline Environmental Reviews

Last week, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released an interim final rule to remove its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidelines. The rule was issued in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” which also directs federal agencies to “undertake all available efforts to eliminate all delays within their respective permitting processes.” The proposed rule will go into effect 45 days after its publication. 

The rule intends to reduce federal bureaucracy by reverting the mission of CEQ to its origins. The agency, which was created with the passage of NEPA, was originally intended to advise the executive branch on environmental matters and NEPA implementation. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order that required federal agencies to comply with NEPA regulations published by the CEQ. Since then, the council has been the guiding agency for the federal government’s NEPA reviews. 

Trump’s executive order reversed Carter’s, which rescinded CEQ’s regulatory authority over other federal agencies. The proposed rule, if implemented, would not strike down NEPA altogether (this would require congressional approval). Instead, it would remove CEQ’s NEPA regulations from the federal register and allow federal agencies to use their own rules to comply with the law. Many agencies, including the Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Forest Service, already have their own NEPA regulations in place. 

Any effort to streamline the NEPA process should be welcomed by all. Since its passage in 1969, the law has become a redundant, bureaucratic nightmare that has slowed down or killed key infrastructure, energy, and environmental projects. 

While paperwork is a contributing factor—in 2020 the CEQ  found it took an average of 4.5 years and 600 pages to complete an environmental impact statement (stricter page and time limits were codified in the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act)—the main culprit is litigation. NEPA-related lawsuits can be filed up to six years after a project has been announced or a permit has been awarded, which primarily impacts forest management and energy development. After navigating red tape and paperwork for more than three years, litigation further delays forest restoration projects by an average of two years, according to the Property and Environment Research Center. Energy projects endure a similar fate and can face nearly four years of NEPA litigation before proceeding, per the Breakthrough Institute. 

Most of these lawsuits are brought forth by activists and national nonprofit organizations, who do not have a stake in the community where the project is taking place. They are also mostly unsuccessful—federal agencies won more than 80 percent of the NEPA lawsuits they faced from 2013 to 2022. Notably, Trump’s executive order directs federal agencies to “prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives, including those of activist groups, that do not align with policy goals” to increase energy production. 

Importantly, comprehensive environmental reviews under NEPA are not needed to protect the environment—several federal and state laws on the book are better equipped to do that, a fact that even Democratic presidents have recognized. For example, the Obama administration fast-tracked the NEPA process for more than 179,000 stimulus package projects to get money out the door as quickly as possible. Last year, Joe Biden exempted CHIPS Act awardees from complying with NEPA. 

The CEQ’s interim rule may reduce NEPA-caused bureaucracy, which is sorely needed to streamline permitting in the United States. The Trump administration should go further and work with Congress to repeal the law outright.

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