Other LanguagesOLYMPIA — Attorney General Nick Brown led a coalition of 19 attorneys general opposing the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ)’s interim final rule that repeals its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA, written by former Washington Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson, established the nation’s bedrock environmental law requiring the federal government to study environmental impacts before taking significant actions.
Since 1978, CEQ's regulations have set out specifics for federal agencies to comply with NEPA, including analysis and consideration of the environmental impacts of projects that are located on federal land to receive federal funding or need federal approvals. NEPA mandates detailed environmental review for all major federal actions — like power plants, roads, pipelines and large logging projects — that the federal government plans to undertake.
The CEQ’s repeal revokes those rules and only allows the public 30 days to comment, even though the outcome is predetermined: the rules will be eliminated. It is an unprecedented attempt from the Trump Administration to undermine federal environmental review and community protections without a meaningful opportunity for public input.
In a comment letter, the attorneys general argue that the interim final rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, Endangered Species Act and NEPA. Eliminating CEQ’s NEPA regulations will create uncertainty and delay project approvals, reduce public participation and lead to less-informed environmental decisions.
Former Washington Senator Jackson introduced NEPA in the Senate in 1968 and it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress. President Richard Nixon signed it into law on Jan. 1, 1970. NEPA has been called “the Magna Carta of the nation’s environmental laws.”
CEQ’s regulations implementing NEPA were first adopted in 1978 and remained unchanged for decades. When the council abandons its NEPA regulations, federal agencies may weaken their environmental review of federal projects and refuse to consider and evaluate potential harmful impacts to expedite project approvals.
Joining Attorney General Brown in sending the comment letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin.
A copy of the comment letter can be found here.
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