Law360 Quotes Susan Lent on Challenge to Trump Admin Proposal to Update NEPA

Akin Gump infrastructure and transportation practice head Susan Lent was quoted by Law360 for its article “Transportation Cases To Watch In 2021.”

Specifically, she discussed environmental groups’ challenge of what Law360 reports is the Trump administration’s proposal to streamline project review through an updating of the National Environmental Policy Act. It reports that the groups consider the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) final rule implementing changes to the law were unlawful.

Lent said, “While federal law includes provisions intended to speed up the environmental review process for transportation projects specifically, the CEQ rules, applicable to all federal agencies, go further.” She added that the rules narrow the types of actions subject to detailed environmental review and the grounds to challenge environmental reviews, and direct agencies not to consider projects’ cumulative and indirect effects, among other actions.

She noted, “The biggest question is whether Congress or the incoming Biden administration will act before a court in invalidating the CEQ rules. While a court must find the rules are arbitrary, capricious and not in compliance with NEPA, which is a relatively short, procedural statute, Congress and the Biden administration can invalidate the rules on policy grounds.”