Revised law allows federal agencies to overlook environmental impact
Juliet Eilperin reports for The Independent
The Trump administration has told federal agencies they should no longer take climate change into account when measuring infrastructure projects, according to two senior administration officials.
The proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa) are aimed at speeding approvals for pipelines, oil and gas leases, highway construction and other kinds of development.
The Nepa law, last updated in 1978, has proved to be one of the most potent stumbling blocks to Mr Trump’s push to accelerate oil, gas, and coal extraction across the country.
Under the Nepa, agencies are required to analyse the extent to which proposed federal actions affect everything from endangered species to water quality to greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.
Under the Obama administration, the Environmental Protection Agency raised objections during a Nepa review of the massive Keystone XL pipeline in Montana which resulted in it being delayed.
More recently, federal judges halted oil and gas leasing in Wyoming as well as the Trump administration’s push to restart coal leasing on public land on the grounds that the Interior Department did not properly assess the climate impacts of these decisions.
Two administration officials, speaking anonymously because the proposed changes will not be announced until next week, said the plan would shorten the timeframe for the environmental reviews. The reviews will also no longer consider the cumulative impacts of a project, they said.
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