Released July 17, 2020 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--President Donald Trump announced his administration had finalized changes to the nation's bedrock environmental-protection law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), at an event at a UPS facility in Atlanta on Wednesday. The changes, the president promised, will expedite construction of infrastructure like highways, pipelines and electric power projects by eliminating duplicative federal reviews of projects while still protecting the environment.
NEPA was enacted in 1970, and was last substantially updated in 1978.
The changes, published July 16 in the Federal Register, will go into effect September 14. The changes were welcomed by industry representatives and decried by environmentalists. The administration released a set of draft changes to NEPA earlier this year, and held public meetings to gather feedback. More than 1.1 million comments were received, and the final rule closely followed the draft changes. Litigation of the final rule is expected. For more on the draft changes to NEPA, see January 13, 2020, article -- See You in Court? Litigation Likely as Trump Proposes Changes to Major Environmental Law.
In the unlikely event that a lawsuit is not filed to stop the president's desired changes to NEPA, another vehicle -- the Congressional Review Act -- could be used to block the changes to that law. Rules enacted by regulatory agencies that are finalized with less than 60 legislative days in the congressional work calendar before an election could be overturned with a simple majority vote once the new Congress is seated next January. Congress now has less than 60 legislative days before the November election. If President Trump is re-elected, he presumably would veto the congressional resolution, but that could be overridden by a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress.
"We want the United States to compete and win in the 21st century, and that means we will not allow our nation to be hamstrung by wasteful Washington regulations," President Donald Trump said Wednesday. "We're the nation that built the Golden Gate Bridge in four years, the Hoover Dam in five years and the Empire State Building in less than one year." But now, the president said, it takes an average of about 4.5 years, and often far longer, to secure federal permits to build major projects such as highways, airports and pipelines.
The president emphasized that the changes would not mean that all infrastructure projects would be approved. Instead, the changes would provide project developers with more definitive answers on permitting in a shorter timeframe.
The changes in the final rule would:
In a prepared statement, Tom Donohue, chief executive at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Washington, D.C.), said: "It should not take longer for a project to get permitted than it does for it to be constructed, but unfortunately that is often the case in the United States today. ... In this time of economic hardship, America must be able to put people to work to rebuild our aging transportation infrastructure like highways, bridges and airports. If we are serious about wanting to improve our climate, we must be able to build the clean energy infrastructure needed like solar panels, wind farms and transmission lines."
But Kristen Boyles, a staff attorney with the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice (San Francisco, California), told The Washington Post that the changes could be vulnerable to a court challenge because the administration is seeking to make significant changes to a law without congressional action. "It's such an extensive rewrite, you're fundamentally changing the way the whole environmental review process works," she said. "It's that sort of reach that makes it (vulnerable) to a court challenge." The president delivered his remarks in front of a diagram of the current environmental permitting process that was about 12 feet high. He said under the changes he wants enacted, that diagram would shrink to about five feet.
"We're here today to celebrate an historic breakthrough that will transform the lives of workers and families all across our nation," the president said. In chronically traffic-congested Atlanta, the president added, "For decades, the biggest single obstacle to building a modern transportation system has been the mountains and mountains of bureaucratic red tape in Washington, D.C. ... But all of that ends today. We're doing something very dramatic. We just completed an unprecedented top-to-bottom overhaul, it should have been done years ago, of the infrastructure-approval process that has cost our country trillions of dollars over the years and delays like you wouldn't believe."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
NEPA was enacted in 1970, and was last substantially updated in 1978.
The changes, published July 16 in the Federal Register, will go into effect September 14. The changes were welcomed by industry representatives and decried by environmentalists. The administration released a set of draft changes to NEPA earlier this year, and held public meetings to gather feedback. More than 1.1 million comments were received, and the final rule closely followed the draft changes. Litigation of the final rule is expected. For more on the draft changes to NEPA, see January 13, 2020, article -- See You in Court? Litigation Likely as Trump Proposes Changes to Major Environmental Law.
In the unlikely event that a lawsuit is not filed to stop the president's desired changes to NEPA, another vehicle -- the Congressional Review Act -- could be used to block the changes to that law. Rules enacted by regulatory agencies that are finalized with less than 60 legislative days in the congressional work calendar before an election could be overturned with a simple majority vote once the new Congress is seated next January. Congress now has less than 60 legislative days before the November election. If President Trump is re-elected, he presumably would veto the congressional resolution, but that could be overridden by a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress.
"We want the United States to compete and win in the 21st century, and that means we will not allow our nation to be hamstrung by wasteful Washington regulations," President Donald Trump said Wednesday. "We're the nation that built the Golden Gate Bridge in four years, the Hoover Dam in five years and the Empire State Building in less than one year." But now, the president said, it takes an average of about 4.5 years, and often far longer, to secure federal permits to build major projects such as highways, airports and pipelines.
The president emphasized that the changes would not mean that all infrastructure projects would be approved. Instead, the changes would provide project developers with more definitive answers on permitting in a shorter timeframe.
The changes in the final rule would:
- Limit federal environmental impact statements (EIS) to two years and less-stringent environmental assessments to one year.
- Exempt from review most projects that receive little or no federal funding.
- End the process under which multiple federal agencies were able to assert jurisdiction over a project. Rather, as outlined in the president's 2017 Executive Order titled "One Federal Decision," each project would have one federal agency responsible for navigating the project through the federal environmental review and authorization process. Other agencies can participate in the review process, but they would effectively serve as a member of the staff of the lead agency.
- Prohibit assessing a project's effects that were "remote in time, geographically remote, or the result of a lengthy causal chain," a backhanded way to keep federal officials from considering how a project could contribute to global climate change.
In a prepared statement, Tom Donohue, chief executive at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Washington, D.C.), said: "It should not take longer for a project to get permitted than it does for it to be constructed, but unfortunately that is often the case in the United States today. ... In this time of economic hardship, America must be able to put people to work to rebuild our aging transportation infrastructure like highways, bridges and airports. If we are serious about wanting to improve our climate, we must be able to build the clean energy infrastructure needed like solar panels, wind farms and transmission lines."
But Kristen Boyles, a staff attorney with the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice (San Francisco, California), told The Washington Post that the changes could be vulnerable to a court challenge because the administration is seeking to make significant changes to a law without congressional action. "It's such an extensive rewrite, you're fundamentally changing the way the whole environmental review process works," she said. "It's that sort of reach that makes it (vulnerable) to a court challenge." The president delivered his remarks in front of a diagram of the current environmental permitting process that was about 12 feet high. He said under the changes he wants enacted, that diagram would shrink to about five feet.
"We're here today to celebrate an historic breakthrough that will transform the lives of workers and families all across our nation," the president said. In chronically traffic-congested Atlanta, the president added, "For decades, the biggest single obstacle to building a modern transportation system has been the mountains and mountains of bureaucratic red tape in Washington, D.C. ... But all of that ends today. We're doing something very dramatic. We just completed an unprecedented top-to-bottom overhaul, it should have been done years ago, of the infrastructure-approval process that has cost our country trillions of dollars over the years and delays like you wouldn't believe."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
