ARTICLE · 05 AUGUST 2016

New Climate Change Guidance For NEPA Reviews

McDermott Will & Emery

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The President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has just issued a guidance document that addresses that question.

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Jacob Hollinger

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In the United States, federal agencies that license, permit or finance energy and infrastructure projects must, with some limited exceptions, analyze the environmental impacts of those projects before they approve them, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). But to what extent must those agencies consider climate change impacts as part of their NEPA reviews? The President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has just issued a guidance document that addresses that question.

CEQ's guidance document—an August 1 memorandum addressed to the heads of all federal departments and agencies—urges federal agencies to consider two climate change-related topics when conducting NEPA reviews.

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