National Environmental Policy Act Regulations: Phase 2 – Public Engagement

This is the fourth in a series of six eAlerts examining the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule) by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Final Rule amends CEQ's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508). Our previous eAlerts provided: (1) background information and a brief overview of the Final Rule as a whole; (2) a discussion on how the Final Rule addresses the threshold determination of whether NEPA applies in the first place; and (3) a summary of the Final Rule's revisions to NEPA's streamlining provisions, such as those concerning document page limits, time limits for environmental reviews, and adoption of other agencies' categorical exclusions.