Alarming NEPA Changes

Alarming NEPA Changes
September/October 2020

Aerial view of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Headquarters in San Diego, where a current development project is subject to NEPA. Courtesy wikipedia.org

The National Environmental Protection Act, the country's leading environmental protection law, requires federal agencies to consider project impacts on the natural and built environment by fostering informed governmental decision making. It turned 50 in January, the same month the current White House administration's Council on Environmental Quality proposed some very substantive rule changes intended to weaken NEPA's ability to protect natural and historic resources.

These changes include:

Limiting the analysis of project impacts and alternatives
Potential exemptions
Imposing barriers to public participation
Reducing legal enforcement
Unclear impacts to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act

Furthermore, the public opportunity to participate in these decisions was inadequate and, counter to federal law requirements, there was no tribal consultation. Read more about these changes.

With more than one million public comments received opposing these new regulations, they were nonetheless signed into law in mid-July with little change. They become effective September 14, 2020. Fortunately, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, along with a number of partners, filed a legal challenge, which SOHO will closely follow and keep you informed. Read the complaint.

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