The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently released a revised version of its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures. This is the first update in 40 years.
The revisions include:
- Clarification was added to explain that NEPA does not apply to every action that a federal agency takes. Instead it applies only to federal actions where the agency has sufficient control and discretion to take environmental effects into account.
- Environmental reviews required under recent amendments to NEPA now have deadlines and page limits designed to expedite infrastructure development and reduce costs.
- Simple and expeditious processes will be used to create categorical exclusions (CEs), the least burdensome class of action. The processes also allows for the adaptation of other agencies’ CEs to minimize repetitive NEPA analyses.
“Under President (Donald) Trump’s leadership, America is building again,” U.S Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said. “USDOT’s NEPA reforms will make it possible to deliver roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure projects faster and more affordably. For too long, unelected Washington bureaucrats have weaponized environmental reviews to create endless delays and block projects. No more. These changes will help usher in a golden age of transportation for the American people.”
The updates combine six separate sets of procedures into one order.