Today the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released its final set of regulations to restore the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock environmental law that gives communities the ability to weigh in on federal actions that impact their air, water and public health. 

The new rule is the second in a two-phase process to reverse a Trump administration rollback that gutted NEPA review to fast-track polluting projects and stifle community input. 

In response, Food & Water Watch Legal Director Tarah Heinzen released the following statement: 

“NEPA gives communities the power to participate and advocate for themselves when the federal government green-lights polluting projects like factory farms and fossil fuel power plants. Today’s rule restores strong environmental review of federal actions and will go a long way towards having a meaningful process to assess the health and safety impacts of an array of projects. 

“Over the past few years, NEPA has been targeted by polluters and their political allies as an impediment to permitting sensible and necessary projects. But this is simply not the case; full, transparent consideration of a project’s impacts – including climate and environmental justice impacts – is critical to informed decision making and ultimately transitioning away from fossil fuels.”