Press Release from the Southern Environmental Law Center
For Immediate Release: July 29, 2020
Contact: Mike Mather, SELC Communications; (434) 977-4090 or cell/text (434) 333-9464; [email protected]
The White House rewrite will mask pollution’s full harm to communities, environment
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — A group of 17 environmental organizations in a lawsuit today accused the government of racing through an industry-friendly rewrite of the National Environmental Policy Act by “cutting corners” and discarding decades of rule-making policies that ensure major legal changes are done fairly and transparently.
If allowed to stand, the changes to NEPA – often called the “Magna Carta of environmental laws” – will reduce the public input that has guided major projects for decades, further diminish the voices of communities that have long suffered environmental injustices, and mask the full extent of polluting projects.
The groups are represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center. The lawsuit comes two weeks after President Trump announced the damaging downgrade to NEPA at a press event in Atlanta. In doing so, the Trump administration sidestepped the longstanding legal process that guides law changes.
The Council on Environmental Quality, the agency in charge of the rewrite, “simply jettisoned the rules to give industry executives what they want at the expense of the public,” said Kym Hunter, an SELC senior attorney. “But the Trump administration isn’t allowed to change a law by breaking the law. And we won’t let this administration get away with it.”
The lawsuit’s first paragraph outlines the groups’ main challenge to CEQ’s process:
In its most recent opinion on the strictures of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Supreme Court affirmed that “the Government should turn square corners in dealing with the people” … In other words, while the federal government has the ability to change policies, rules and regulations, it must follow the law, not cut corners, when it does so.
To rewrite NEPA, CEQ held just two public hearings, one in Washington D.C. and the other in Denver. Despite the limited in-person engagement, the agency received more than 1.1 million comments and, under CEQ policy, has a duty to review them. However, the agency moved forward with the rewritten rule four months later.
Meanwhile, responding to much smaller tasks like providing public records took CEQ more than a year and a half, hastened only when a judge ordered CEQ to quicken its pace.
In addition to skirting the law, the rewrite also damages NEPA by removing from consideration “cumulative impacts” and “indirect effects” when assessing large projects.
“Cumulative impacts” take into account how pollution from a new project – for example increased car emissions spurred by a new interstate – are added to pollution already in place from the existing road network. “Indirect effects” are foreseeable changes that happen later, like increased sprawl and development from that new interstate.
Removing those considerations means communities will not be fully informed about the potential harmful consequences of proposed projects like pipelines, highways and intensive development.
“NEPA has given a voice to communities of lesser means that often bear the brunt of polluting projects,” Hunter said. “It is a tool of democracy, a tool for the people. We’re not going to stand idly by while the Trump administration eviscerates it.”
For Immediate Release: July 29, 2020
Contact: Mike Mather, SELC Communications; (434) 977-4090 or cell/text (434) 333-9464; [email protected]
The White House rewrite will mask pollution’s full harm to communities, environment
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — A group of 17 environmental organizations in a lawsuit today accused the government of racing through an industry-friendly rewrite of the National Environmental Policy Act by “cutting corners” and discarding decades of rule-making policies that ensure major legal changes are done fairly and transparently.
If allowed to stand, the changes to NEPA – often called the “Magna Carta of environmental laws” – will reduce the public input that has guided major projects for decades, further diminish the voices of communities that have long suffered environmental injustices, and mask the full extent of polluting projects.
The groups are represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center. The lawsuit comes two weeks after President Trump announced the damaging downgrade to NEPA at a press event in Atlanta. In doing so, the Trump administration sidestepped the longstanding legal process that guides law changes.
The Council on Environmental Quality, the agency in charge of the rewrite, “simply jettisoned the rules to give industry executives what they want at the expense of the public,” said Kym Hunter, an SELC senior attorney. “But the Trump administration isn’t allowed to change a law by breaking the law. And we won’t let this administration get away with it.”
The lawsuit’s first paragraph outlines the groups’ main challenge to CEQ’s process:
In its most recent opinion on the strictures of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Supreme Court affirmed that “the Government should turn square corners in dealing with the people” … In other words, while the federal government has the ability to change policies, rules and regulations, it must follow the law, not cut corners, when it does so.
To rewrite NEPA, CEQ held just two public hearings, one in Washington D.C. and the other in Denver. Despite the limited in-person engagement, the agency received more than 1.1 million comments and, under CEQ policy, has a duty to review them. However, the agency moved forward with the rewritten rule four months later.
Meanwhile, responding to much smaller tasks like providing public records took CEQ more than a year and a half, hastened only when a judge ordered CEQ to quicken its pace.
In addition to skirting the law, the rewrite also damages NEPA by removing from consideration “cumulative impacts” and “indirect effects” when assessing large projects.
“Cumulative impacts” take into account how pollution from a new project – for example increased car emissions spurred by a new interstate – are added to pollution already in place from the existing road network. “Indirect effects” are foreseeable changes that happen later, like increased sprawl and development from that new interstate.
Removing those considerations means communities will not be fully informed about the potential harmful consequences of proposed projects like pipelines, highways and intensive development.
“NEPA has given a voice to communities of lesser means that often bear the brunt of polluting projects,” Hunter said. “It is a tool of democracy, a tool for the people. We’re not going to stand idly by while the Trump administration eviscerates it.”
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