What does NEPA do? Congress enacted NEPA on January 1, 1970, to establish a national policy for the environment “…to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony…”
Using the NEPA process, agencies evaluate each new federal agency project to assess the environmental and related social and economic effects of the proposed action prior to making decisions. The evaluation must meet standards that are in place to protect public health and the environment. Agencies must provide opportunities for public review and comment on those evaluations. The range of actions covered by NEPA is broad and includes:
- Making decisions on permit applications,
- Approving federal land management plans and actions, and
- Constructing highways and other publicly-owned facilities.
What is the intent of the new rules? The proposed changes to NEPA are intended to speed up development activities such as fossil fuel drilling, pipelines, mines, highways and more, and would do so by limiting opportunities for public engagement and environmental review.
What would change? The plan changes the analysis process to make it easier for federal agencies to move forward with projects such as pipelines and highways without a thorough analysis of the environmental impact. Some of the proposed changes would:
- Exclude consideration of “indirect” and “cumulative impacts” which would allow agencies to ignore significant problems like climate change,
- Severely shorten the environmental impact evaluation period,
- Limit the opportunities for public engagement, and
- Limit the length of impact study documents.
What are the impacts of the changes? These changes would pose a severe threat to the health and safety of all Americans, especially our most marginalized and vulnerable communities, and contribute to the degradation of waters, lands and threatened ecosystems.