News & Analysis as of

National Environmental Policy Act Government Agencies

ArentFox Schiff

Bipartisan SPEED Act Aims to Streamline NEPA Environmental Reviews for Federal Grant and Loan Recipients

ArentFox Schiff on

Recently introduced bipartisan legislation aims to significantly streamline the environmental review process for recipients of federal assistance....more

Beveridge & Diamond PC

Federal Agencies Overhaul Longstanding NEPA Regulations

Beveridge & Diamond PC on

Key Takeaways - What happened: Over the last few weeks, individual federal agencies have issued interim final rules (IFRs) to largely rescind their existing NEPA regulations. Agencies have replaced those regulations with a...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economy Development Act: Congressman Westerman (Arkansas) Introduces National...

United States Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) has introduced legislation into the United States House of Representatives titled: Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act (“SPEED Act”)....more

Baker Donelson

Seven County Infrastructure Coal. v. Eagle Cnty., Colo. – Supreme Court's "Course Correction" on NEPA Already Steering Decisions...

Baker Donelson on

The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, on May 19, 2025, clarifying that the scope of judicial review of federal agency environmental...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Another Step Change for USDA’s GE Regs: APHIS Ceases NEPA Review of Petitions for Nonregulated Status

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

Perkins Coie

Failure to Explain Selection of Project Alternative Violated NEPA and APA

Perkins Coie on

The Ninth Circuit held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to explain in its Record of Decision why it selected a project alternative that did not meet the development...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

NEPA Reimagined: The Ongoing Overhaul of Federal Environmental Review

Over the past eight months, the legal framework governing environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has undergone significant upheaval—with additional changes still on the way. Here’s what’s...more

Allen Matkins

Project Applicants Can Now Pay for Expedited Federal Environmental Review Under NEPA

Allen Matkins on

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

Vinson & Elkins LLP

The New NEPA: Federal Agencies Overhaul Procedures for Environmental Reviews

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

On July 3, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Army Corps”), and the Departments of Energy (“DOE”), Interior (“DOI”), Transportation (“DOT”),...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Extreme Makeover – NEPA Edition: Permitting Agencies Strip Their Environmental Review Regulations Down To The Studs

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In the past two weeks, six federal permitting agencies — the U.S. Departments of Interior (USDOI), Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE), Commerce (DoC), Defense (DoD), and Transportation (USDOT) — withdrew most of their National...more

Snell & Wilmer

Freeing Agencies from Conflicting National Environmental Policy Act Regulations

Snell & Wilmer on

On July 3, 2025, several federal agencies published Interim Final Rules or Final Rules freeing themselves of legally and statutorily conflicting regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in...more

Bracewell LLP

Another Big Week for NEPA: New Federal Procedures and a Big Beautiful Bill Benefit

Bracewell LLP on

The week of June 30, 2025, will go down in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) history as another one for the books — federal agencies have begun their efforts to overhaul their NEPA procedures and Congress has...more

Perkins Coie

Returning to the 1970s: Agency NEPA Regulations Replaced by Guidance

Perkins Coie on

A chain of events that started on Inauguration Day culminated with the June 30, 2025, withdrawal of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations that have, since the 1970s, structured decision-making processes at the...more

Goldberg Segalla

Agencies Take Major Federal Action Significantly Affecting NEPA’s Future

Goldberg Segalla on

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) applies to a major federal action that significantly affects the quality of the human environment. On June 30, several federal agencies took their own federal action which will...more

Morgan Lewis - Up & Atom

US Supreme Court: Deference Owed to Agency Decisions on the Scope of NEPA Reviews

The US Supreme Court continues to reshape administrative law. In its recent decision, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, the Court unanimously (8-0) instructed federal courts to defer to...more

Jones Day

Evolving NEPA Regulations May Facilitate Energy Projects

Jones Day on

The National Environmental Protection Act ("NEPA") requires that federal agencies assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making final decisions, including decisions on issuing federal permits,...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Generate Power for the Columbia River Basin (Trump EO Tracker)

Revokes the September 27, 2023 Presidential Memorandum on restoring fish populations in the Columbia River Basin and directs relevant agencies to withdraw from the associated litigation MOU, halt the current SEIS process, and...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

Interior Department Streamlines NEPA, ESA, NHPA Reviews for Geothermal Energy Projects

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on May 30 that it will invoke emergency permitting procedures to accelerate environmental review of select geothermal energy projects, with three proposed geothermal...more

Hogan Lovells

Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County decision summary

Hogan Lovells on

In Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, the Supreme Court fundamentally altered the nature of judicial review of agency decisions involving Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) under the National...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update 6.6.25

Allen Matkins on

On May 29, 2025, the Supreme Court held that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — which requires federal agencies to analyze the environmental impacts of projects that they perform, fund, or approve — does not...more

Allen Matkins

Renewable Energy Update 6.6.25

Allen Matkins on

On May 29, 2025, the Supreme Court held that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — which requires federal agencies to analyze the environmental impacts of projects that they carry out, fund, or approve — does not...more

Stoel Rives - Environmental Law Blog

Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County: Agencies Granted Substantial Deference in Assessing Project Scope and...

In a significant decision interpreting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado on May 29, 2025. For certain...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

Supreme Court Issues First Major NEPA Ruling in Two Decades

On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an 8-0 opinion that clarifies the scope of environmental effects analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and requires substantial judicial deference to...more

Winstead PC

Supreme Court Reins in NEPA Reviews - Clearing the Path for Developers

Winstead PC on

On May 29, 2025, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, No. 23-975, 605 U.S. ___ (2025), sharply limiting the scope of environmental review obligations under the...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Pruning NEPA’s Branches: The Supreme Court Reshapes Environmental Reviews for Major Actions

Baker Botts L.L.P. on

Over the last half century, federal courts have interpreted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to require federal agencies to study an ever-growing range of indirect effects and impacts when approving large...more

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