Questions Remain for Future of Environmental Reviews After Scrapping of NEPA Rules

Environment attorney Rafe Petersen was quoted in The National Law Journal about the implications of the rescission of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations by the Trump Administration. The article discussed how this change aims to expedite the environmental review process but could lead to a fragmented regulatory landscape and increase the vulnerability of NEPA reviews to legal challenges. Although NEPA itself remains the law, removing its overarching regulations and eliminating the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) ability to implement it may lead to inconsistencies as federal agencies develop their own procedures. Mr. Petersen noted that although the NEPA review process could become more streamlined in the long term, there's potential for initial chaos as agencies adapt.

"I think there's going to be a little chaos when the agencies all first adopt their regs. It's going to be a pretty decent workload, I'm sure, for them to pull this all together," he said.

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