Status
On May 8, 2024, Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., alongside Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced their intent to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution to nullify the Council on Environmental Quality final rule relating to National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations Revisions Phase 2.
The NEPA Phase 2 final rule, published on May 1, implements wide-ranging changes that will add unnecessarily burdensome and costly provisions to the federal environmental review and permitting process. Specifically, the NEPA rule establishes new monitoring and compliance requirements for NEPA decisions involving mitigation efforts. It also adds new factors to environmental reviews, such as environmental justice and climate change effects, while requiring agencies to identify “environmentally preferable alternatives.”
In addition, the NEPA Phase 2 rule widens the scope of agency review regarding the “context and intensity” of proposed actions and expands judicial review of NEPA reviews. At the same time, it removes language specifying that NEPA does not mandate particular results and eliminates rules that place reasonable limitations on the public engagement process.
Furthermore, the NEPA rule favors projects deemed to have environmental benefits (such as solar/wind energy, electric vehicle charging facilities and electrical transmission infrastructure) by allowing them to receive categorical exclusions that bypass the NEPA process. The rulemaking is effective July 1, and federal agencies have until July 1, 2025, to implement the regulations into their own environmental review procedures. Read ABC’s analysis and statement on the NEPA Phase 2 final rule.
Prior to the publication of the Phase 2 final rule, on Sept. 29, 2023, ABC submitted comments with a coalition of industry stakeholders urging the CEQ to withdraw its July 31 NEPA Phase 2 proposed rule, which would reverse critical streamlining provisions of the ABC-supported 2020 NEPA rule. The comments outline how the proposed rule seeks to undermine and weaken the bipartisan NEPA reforms supported by ABC in the Fiscal Responsibility Act and therefore defies the intent of Congress to provide certainty regarding permitting of critical infrastructure projects.
On April 20, 2022, the CEQ announced its NEPA Phase 1 final rule revising the implementation regulations of NEPA, which created needless delays for small businesses and increased costs for taxpayers. While Sen. Sullivan introduced S.J. Res. 55, a CRA to nullify the final rule that passed in the Senate by a 50-47 vote, the resolution did not advance in the Democrat-led House. Read ABC’s statement on the Phase 1 final rule.
In October 2021, the CEQ under President Joe Biden published its Phase 1 proposed rule as part of its multistep rulemaking process to revise the July 2020 ABC-supported final rule, which modernized the federal environmental review process under NEPA regulations. In November 2021, ABC and a coalition of stakeholders submitted comments supporting a streamlined approach to the permitting process under NEPA to reduce delays hindering critical projects, resulting in better infrastructure, a stronger economy and continued environmental stewardship.
Desired Outcome
ABC supports NEPA modernization that creates a coordinated, predictable and transparent method for permitting. ABC will continue to advocate for sensible reforms, such as “one federal decision” language included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to ensure that project completion on time and on budget while protecting communities and the environment.