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Rulemaking Process National Environmental Policy Act

Hogan Lovells

DOT issues updates to NEPA implementing procedures

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The Department of Transportation (DOT) and several DOT agencies have announced a series of updates to requirements for the agency's implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including updates to the...more

Wenning Environmental

Rescinding U.S. Roadless Rule Reignites Centuries-old Debate About State Rights And Environmental Protections On Public Lands

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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins’ announcement at a Western Governors Association meeting in June 2025 to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, commonly known as the Roadless Rule, is...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

The New NEPA: Federal Agencies Overhaul Procedures for Environmental Reviews

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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

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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

Troutman Pepper Locke

FERC Revises Regulations Implementing NEPA; Adopts Two Hydropower-Related Categorical Exclusions

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On July 3, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule revising its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to remove references to the recently rescinded...more

Snell & Wilmer

Freeing Agencies from Conflicting National Environmental Policy Act Regulations

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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

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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

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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

Akerman LLP

NEPA Requirements Narrowed in New SCOTUS Ruling

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On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued an opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition et al. v. Eagle County, Colorado et al., which narrowed the requirements of environmental review under the National...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

SCOTUS Limits Scope of NEPA Reviews, Reinstates Approval of Uinta Basin Railway

In a highly anticipated decision for project developers and permitting agencies, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the D.C. Circuit’s 2023 decision that had invalidated federal approval of the Uinta Basin Railway. In Seven...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

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

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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

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Supreme Court Holds That Agencies Have “Substantial” Discretion to Omit Upstream and Downstream Projects from Environmental...

On May 29, 2025, a unanimous Supreme Court (voting 8-0, with Justice Gorsuch recused) held that federal agencies need not consider the environmental effects of “upstream” and “downstream” projects that are separate in time or...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

One-Track Mind: Unanimous SCOTUS Decision on Rail Line Approval Further Narrows Scope of NEPA

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On May 29, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado that dramatically changes the way courts scrutinize federal agencies’ environmental reviews under the...more

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

Definition of Harm/Endangered Species Act: EarthJustice Comments Addressing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposed Rule

The environmental organization Earthjustice submitted May 19th comments to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fishery Service (collectively, “Services”) addressing their proposed rescission of the...more

Allen Matkins

White House Council on Environmental Quality Releases Draft NEPA Template Following CEQ’s Rescission of Longstanding Regulations

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Last week, several news outlets reported that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) circulated a draft template dated April 8, 2025 among federal agencies to assist in updating their procedures for...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

D.C. Circuit Denies Healthy Gulf’s and Sierra Club’s Petition for Review of FERC Order Authorizing Construction and Operation of...

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On March 28, 2025, the D.C. Circuit denied a joint petition for review brought by Healthy Gulf and Sierra Club (together, “Petitioners”) challenging FERC’s grant of a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to...more

DLA Piper

CEQ Issues Memorandum on NEPA Implementation: Top Points

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The Trump Administration has begun operationalizing its regulatory strategy for projects requiring evaluation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In this alert, we discuss two key actions being taken and key...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Council on Environmental Quality Rescinds NEPA Regulations

Federal agencies are now responsible for their own National Environmental Policy Act procedures, creating uncertainty and opportunity for federal environmental reviews....more

Pierce Atwood LLP

CEQ Sounds Death Knell for Existing NEPA Regulations

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The rapid changes relating to NEPA-implementing regulations accelerated this week, as the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published an interim final rule (IFR) removing its NEPA regulations from the Code of...more

Beveridge & Diamond PC

NEPA: Back to the Drawing Board

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Today the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued an interim final rule (IFR) that will soon remove all existing CEQ regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Other than the issuance of...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

NEPA’s Future Comes Into View with New Guidance and Rule Recission ‎

The past few months have been a period of high uncertainty over implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In December, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that addressed the scope of foreseeable...more

Nossaman LLP

Future Uncertain for National Environmental Policy Act Implementation

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Ever since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declared in Marin Audubon that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) had no authority to issue binding National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations,...more

Perkins Coie

CEQ Regulations Replaced by Guidance for a Year of Living in Uncertainty

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On February 19, 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) submitted to the Federal Register an interim final rule rescinding its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, which have been the foundation for...more

Goldberg Segalla

Navigating NEPA in the New Year

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On January 31 — in Marin Audubon Society et al. v. FAA et al. — the D.C. Circuit Court declined petitions for en banc review of a panel’s November 2024 ruling that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) does...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

A Hard Look at CEQ’s Hard Luck: North Dakota Court Decision Accelerates NEPA Regulations’ Rapid Fall

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This past Monday, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota issued its ruling in the closely watched case of Iowa v. Council on Envtl. Quality, 1:24-cv-089 (D.N.D. Feb. 3, 2025), vacating the Biden...more

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