President Donald Trump’s rule changes on a bedrock environmental law are transforming not only how federal agencies do their jobs, but also how advocacy groups fight projects like pipelines and coal mines in court.
Under the administration’s new approach to National Environmental Policy Act compliance — shaped in part by recent court rulings on the statute — federal regulators are expected to take fewer in-depth looks at projects’ impact on the environment and climate. In an increasing number of cases, agencies won’t be reviewing those risks at all.
Taken together, those changes are expected to reduce footholds for groups to craft legal challenges under one of the nation’s most frequently litigated federal environmental laws.
NEPA is “a less effective tool than it once was,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center, which frequently represents environmental groups in lawsuits against energy projects.
