WHAT IS NEPA?
For 50 years, the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) has provided important guardrails that protect the environment, cultural resources, and public health, but the current administration is attempting to overhaul the law in a way that will provide benefits to big polluters by severely limiting environmental reviews, curtailing public comment, and allowing industry to conduct their own impact statements - introducing bias into federal decision making. Perhaps most concerning is the removal of the indirect and cumulative effects analysis which requires the federal government to account for their impact on climate change.
NEPA is a bedrock environmental law that was built to provide government oversight in a system that otherwise affords the government ample discretion. It’s important we oppose revisions to NEPA and fight to maintain science and public comment in federal decision making.