On-Demand Webinar | The New NEPA Regulations: A Practical Guide to What You Need to Know
David Bowie’s hit song "Space Oddity," about the fictional astronaut Major Tom, was released as a single in 1969. Environmental impact statements (EIS) for rocket launches in the US were not required at that time. Rocket...more
The Trump administration came into office in 2025 promising to speed federal environmental permitting by, among other things, streamlining compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In the whirlwind of the...more
The past month brought a flurry of updates from federal agencies publishing new procedures to implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), following President Trump’s Executive Order 14154 (EO 14154) in January...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on July 9, 2025, that it will no longer conduct environmental analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when...more
The budget reconciliation bill signed into law on July 4 (also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”) adds a new provision to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that allows project sponsors/applicants to pay for...more
President Trump’s January 31, 2025, executive order (EO), Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) February 25 interim final rule removing CEQ regulations...more
In a surprise decision likely to add further fuel to the fires calling for permitting reform and uncertainty to the environmental review process for federal funding and approval, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of...more
In a significant ruling, the D.C. Circuit in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration held that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) lacks the statutory authority to issue binding regulations under the...more
On November 12, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)—the entity under the Executive Office of the President that has long overseen National...more
The two-judge majority opinion in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration effectively invalidates the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ’s) longstanding regulations implementing the National...more
The White House's Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) recently finalized its “Phase 2” rule, which revises CEQ’s National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) regulations. The rule aims to accelerate NEPA project review by...more
On May 1, 2024, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published notice in the Federal Register of a final rule amending its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The final...more
This is the fifth in a series of six eAlerts on the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule) by the Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Final Rule...more
This is the fourth in a series of six eAlerts examining the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule) by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The...more
On May 1, 2024, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published the final version of Phase 2 of its National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) rulemaking (“Phase 2 Rule”). The Phase 2 Rule is the culmination of the...more
On May 1, 2024, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) finalized a rule to undo most of the remaining 2020 Trump Administration changes to the federal environmental review process under the National...more
This is the third in a series of six eAlerts on the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule) by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Final Rule...more
As part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (also known as the debt ceiling bill) in June 2023, Congress made the most significant revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) since the statute was enacted in 1970....more
Introduction On May 1, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published its Final Rule implementing revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”)—better known as Phase 2 (the “Final Rule”)....more
Based on immediate reactions to the long-awaited final "Phase II" NEPA regulations, one might think that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) substantially altered long-standing federal environmental review practice....more
On July 31, 2023, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed to update its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) across the federal government. Reflecting the increasingly...more
On July 31, 2023, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) proposed the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule (“Proposed Rule”), 88 Fed. Reg. 49,924 (July 31, 2023), which is better known as Phase 2 of the...more
On July 28, 2023, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations governing how federal agencies review the environmental effects of major federal...more
Federal agencies are required to conduct assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) before taking “major federal actions,” such as granting permits needed for infrastructure projects and for certain...more
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law on January 1, 1970, and it has rarely been amended or revised since then. NEPA is basically a procedural statute which requires Federal permitting authorities,...more