NEPA revisions could delay critical infrastructure, ABC says

As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to improve federal permitting processes, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) today finalized a rule to “reform, simplify and modernize” the federal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The new rule will build on more than $1 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act to expedite federal agency permitting, the President’s Permitting Action Plan, and other permitting reforms to help accelerate environmental reviews while ensuring strong environmental protections, community engagement and better coordination with states, Tribes and local governments.

CEQ’s Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule fully implements new permitting efficiencies secured in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, including setting clear deadlines for agencies to complete environmental reviews, requiring a lead agency and setting specific expectations for lead and cooperating agencies and creating a unified and coordinated federal review process.

The rule also provides agencies with other “new and faster tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of environmental reviews,” the administration says, creating new ways for federal agencies to establish categorical exclusions. The rule will also help accelerate reviews for projects that agencies can evaluate on a broad, programmatic scale or incorporate measures to mitigate adverse effects.

Additionally, the new rule promotes early public engagement in environmental review processes to help reduce conflict, accelerate project reviews, improve project design and outcomes and increase legal durability. 

Some organizations, such as the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Washington, oppose the rule.  

ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck issued the following statement:

“These unnecessarily onerous new NEPA regulations will make it more difficult to build important projects and are a major step backward for critical infrastructure, the construction industry and America’s economic future. While both Republicans and Democrats have long agreed on the need for commonsense permitting reform, this final rule fails to meaningfully improve environmental protections and … expands and lengthens environmental reviews that already take years.

“Instead of moving forward with this burdensome final rule, the Biden administration should work to streamline and modernize permitting processes while maintaining important environmental safeguards.”