Tuesday’s Biden administration action was to restore some of Trump’s environmental regulations governing permit infrastructure projects.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), is finishing phase 1 changes to govern the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act. (NEPA), which requires environmental review for projects such as pipelines or highways.
Trump’s administration altered or repealed several regulations governing NEPA implementation. While it claimed that these changes would speedup the permitting process, critics argued that they were detrimental to the environment.
The Biden administration criticized Trump’s recent changes, describing them as causing agency difficulties and creating confusion for the general population.
Brenda Mallory, CEQ Chair, said that restoring these basic community safeguards would provide regulatory certainty, reduce conflicts, and help ensure projects are built right the first-time.
These holes in the environmental reviews process can be repaired to help projects go faster, be more resilient, provide greater benefits to those who live nearby, and make them more affordable.
Trump’s 2020 NEPA regulatory overhaul removed the explicit requirement to consider indirect impacts. They are those that occur later on or further away but are still reasonably predictable.
It also removed the explicit requirement to consider its cumulative effects, which refers primarily to how pollution from a project may interact with other sources to make some areas especially polluted.
Critics raised concerns over the effects of climate change on communities already disproportionately polluted and argued it could limit the ability of governments to consider climate change impacts.
The Biden administration reaffirmed the need to consider consider the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts, according to a statement from the CEQ.
Trump’s administration also tried to make the process more friendly to the industry by adding language that required agencies to propose alternatives to projects of companies based on their goals.
Biden’s administration said it would instead allow agencies to decide the purpose and importance of a project proposal based on a variety o factors. It will also work with both communities and companies to minimize any environmental harms.
The administration also stated it would establish that NEPA regulations are a floor rather than a ceiling for standards for environmental review.
NEPA is a law that has been in effect for more than 50 years. It requires the government to consider community and environmental concerns before it approves different types of infrastructure projects. This can include airports or buildings.
Many industries have called for the requirements to be relaxed. They point out that environmental reviews can take up to years and slow down projects.
Proponents argue that strong regulations protect communities from pollution, and that weaker reviews open projects up to legal challenges, increasing uncertainty.
The Trump administration made other changes like setting a two-year time limit for the most stringent type of environmental review, when they typically take about four and a half years that have not yet been targeted by the Biden administration.
The White House council stated in a statement, however, that it will propose phase 2 improvements to improve the efficiency and effectiveness environmental reviews in the coming months.
Christy Goldfuss, the CEQ chair in the Obama administration, said last week to The Hill that she viewed the phase 1 rule as a way to get going rather than take on the most significant parts.
The phase 2 rulemaking Goldfuss mentioned is the most important question.
