Weekly Focus

Trump’s Move To Scrap Basis For CEQ Rules Adds To Confusion Over NEPA

January 23, 2025
President Donald Trump’s early actions addressing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including a move to scrap the Carter-era legal basis for the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) binding implementing rules, could add confusion to permitting efforts despite the president’s vows to speed permits, experts say. Taken together, the Trump directives have “thrown the whole system into chaos,” says Jason Schwartz, legal director for the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University. “Business hates uncertainty, so at...


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