This week, the White House announced that the Trump administration was issuing a final rule to modernize and accelerate environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). “By streamlining infrastructure approvals, we’ll further expand America’s unprecedented economic boom,” President Donald Trump said.
According to the White House, the final rule modernizes Federal NEPA regulations, which includes codifying specific court decisions to clarify NEPA’s application and expand public involvement in NEPA reviews with state-of-the-art technology. It also incorporates Trump’s One Federal Decision Policy, which sets a time limit of two years for the completion of environmental impact statements when required and one year for environmental assessments.
Stephen E. Sandherr, the CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America, praised the revisions in a statement. “This updated review process will make it easier to rebuild aging infrastructure, attract private investment, support efforts to reinvigorate our economy and continue to provide strict protections for the environment,” he said. “Given the broad, bipartisan support for improving infrastructure, these common-sense reforms should be widely embraced and supported.”
Although the review time lengths have changed, “The substantive environmental laws and requirements that come into play on every construction project remain unchanged,” Sandherr added. “At a time when both political parties understand the best way to support the economy is by investing in infrastructure, this new rule will help ensure that civil works funding and public-private partnerships help create needed jobs and deliver results, instead of being mired in red tape and squandered on endless legal squabbles.”
