The Council on Environmental Quality recently released a notice of proposed rulemaking for Phase II of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rulemaking process, titled the “Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule.” The proposed rule deletes the current regulation’s focus on NEPA as a procedural statute and instead emphasizes the Act’s “action forcing” devices to consider the environmental effects of federal decision-making, to even include global effects as they relate to climate change. If finalized, the proposal also would broaden NEPA’s focus on environmental justice while limiting some aspects of NEPA review to align with NEPA updates authorized in the Fiscal Responsibility Act and BUILDER Act of 2023.
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