Shiny, Happy NEPA: How The Administration Plans To Make NEPA More User-Friendly

On January 10, 2020, the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued a proposed rule that would substantially revise its regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the first time in more than 40 years. The proposed rule would narrow the consideration of effects of federal decisions to those that it describes as reasonably foreseeable and clarify that non-federal projects with “minimal” federal funding or involvement are not “major actions” requiring NEPA review, in addition to other streamlining changes. With the proposal, CEQ hopes to “reduce unnecessary paperwork and delays, and to promote better decision-making consistent with NEPA’s statutory requirements.”