‘We really want to break through that red tape and allow projects to move through the process more smoothly’
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Katherine Scarlett told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the “regulatory pendulum” and “excessive” CEQ regulations have burdened the United States for “far too long.”
The CEQ announced Wednesday that it confirmed the official removal of the CEQ’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations, following President Donald Trump’s day-one directive and a February 2025 interim final rule. NEPA is a key environmental law that requires agencies to account for environmental impacts ahead of project development and permitting, though some analysts argue it burdens the energy sector with litigation and is in need of reform.
The Council has now paved a way for federal agencies to reform their NEPA procedures, according to CEQ, at a time American energy demand is climbing due to onshoring of manufacturing and the expansion of artificial intelligence. Scarlett told the DCNF that some of these agencies have not updated their NEPA guidelines in decades.