ILTA Meets with OMB, CEQ on Environmental Review Changes

ILTA participated in a meeting with the Office of Management and Budget and the Council on Environmental Quality on November 20 to encourage the Trump administration to expeditiously propose and finalize changes to National Environmental Policy Act regulations governing reviews of projects requiring federal agency approvals.

Over the past decades, the length of NEPA reviews has steadily increased and can now take several years. NEPA regulations were first promulgated in November 1978 and have been updated substantively only one time since then in April 1986. On August 15, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13807, “Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure Projects” that directed CEQ to develop an initial list of actions to enhance and modernize the federal environmental review and authorization process. In June 2018, CEQ issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comments on potential revisions to update and clarify CEQ NEPA regulations.

ILTA participated in the event as part of the broad industry National Environmental Policy Act Coalition. CEQ is expected to issue proposed regulatory changes soon.