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On November 22, APGA joined a coalition of over 20 trades in responding to the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposed update to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rules.  Through the comments, the coalition indicates its concern that the proposed rule would not advance, but rather hinder NEPA’s goal of more informed agency decisions.

NEPA is intended to help federal agencies assess the environmental impacts of their proposed actions prior to making decisions and is required for a range of federal actions, such as making decisions on permit applications.  NEPA, which has become a challenging hurdle for all types of infrastructure development to gain approval, including pipelines, was modernized in 2020.  However, these new proposed changes would reverse most of the new rule, which has not yet been required to be adopted by federal agencies.  Accordingly, the coalition of associations, which represent a diverse set of economic sectors, urged CEQ to retain the improvements made to NEPA in 2020, as they enhanced federal decision-making, improved environmental review, and would facilitate public understanding of the issues.

A copy of the comments is available here.  For questions on this article, please contact Renée Lani of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-0836 or by email at rlani@apga.org.