Agencies Collectively Move to Overhaul Environmental Review Regulations
On July 3, 2025, numerous federal agencies initiated an effort to revise the manner in which they comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA, a cornerstone of environmental governance and project development in the U.S., has historically been implemented through regulations from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The DC Circuit questioned the legality of those regulations, as well as CEQ’s authority to implement them. And at the direction of President Trump’s February 25, 2025 Executive Order 14154 — “Unleashing American Energy” — CEQ rescinded its NEPA implementing regulations. In place, CEQ provided guidance for agencies that instructed them to update their NEPA procedures by February 2026 in a manner consistent with recent statutory amendments that prioritizes “efficiency and certainty over any other policy objectives.” Today, we are getting our first glimpse into what that process will look like.
Supreme Court Makes Major Course Correction, Limiting Scope of NEPA Reviews and Demanding Judicial Deference to Agency in Uinta Basin Rail Case
In Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, the Supreme Court held that under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an agency evaluating a particular project is not required to consider the effects of other future or geographically separate projects that may be built or expanded if the proposed project were approved, thus closing the door to the expansive NEPA analyses demanded by project opponents in many cases. The Court also separately stressed that the “central principle of judicial review in NEPA cases is deference,” underscoring that NEPA grants agencies discretion to determine the scope of the review and that their discretionary decisions should not be extensively second-guessed by a court. The cumulative impact of these holdings are much more than a minor course correction and should both significantly limit the scope of future NEPA analyzes and strengthen the defensibility of such analyzes in court.
White House Announces New ‘Ocean Justice Strategy’
On June 7, 2023, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a request for information (RFI) in the Federal Register seeking input on its planned Ocean Justice Strategy (the “Strategy”). The RFI describes the Strategy as an effort to integrate environmental justice principles into ocean-related activities of the federal government. The Strategy could have wide-ranging impacts on the development of ocean energy resources.
Biden Administration Reaffirms and Reflects on Commitment to Environmental Justice
The Biden administration has recently reinforced the President’s environmental justice (EJ) agenda through two actions. Stakeholders who engage with the federal government should be aware of how the administration is expanding these efforts, which inform the government’s enforcement actions and review of projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
White House Council on Environmental Quality Moves Updates to National Environmental Policy Act Implementation Rule
On Monday, January 30, 2023, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Phase 2 of its proposal to revise the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing rules released under the prior administration. Litigation surrounding the prior administration’s rules is stayed pending CEQ’s ongoing efforts. OMB review is a necessary prerequisite before CEQ can publish any new rule in the Federal Register and follows release of Phase 1 of CEQ’s implementing rules last April, which the administration described as restoring pre-2020 requirements for agencies to assess direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of proposed actions under NEPA.
