Lawmakers, former White House officials come to NEPA’s defense

By Lesley Clark, Niina H. Farah | 10/28/2024 01:17 PM EDT

Friend of the court briefs are piling in, urging the Supreme Court to leave it to Congress to change the National Environmental Policy Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on April 25, 2024. Francis Chung/POLITICO

Democratic lawmakers, states and former White House officials are defending the way the U.S. conducts environmental reviews of major projects, telling the Supreme Court that it should leave complaints about the process to Congress.

The support for the National Environmental Policy Act came in a flurry of briefs filed late last week, opposing efforts by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition to limit the scope of the law.

The independent arm of the Utah state government is challenging a court-ordered NEPA analysis for a planned 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway in Utah designed to carry waxy crude oil from the Uinta Basin to a national railway network.

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The case is asking the court to resolve whether agency reviews must consider project effects that happen far from the project itself and that are outside the regulatory authority of the reviewing agency. The court’s decision could have far-reaching consequences for how agencies account for climate change.

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