National Environmental Policy Act Regulations: Phase 2 – Concluding Thoughts

This is the final in our series of eAlerts on the Council of Environmental Quality's (CEQ) Phase 2 revisions to its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, published on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule).

Our prior eAlerts on the Phase 2 revisions focused on changes CEQ made to the threshold determination under NEPA of whether a project is a "major federal action", streamlining provisions, public involvement (including newly implemented environmental justice requirements) and several other significant changes to the regulations. As we previously touched on, the Phase 1 and Phase 2 revisions to NEPA regulations reflect the Biden administration's priorities outlined in Executive Order 13990, Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis and Executive Order Number 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Further, the Final Rule aligns the NEPA regulations with amendments to the NEPA statute made by the