July 15, 2020 (BOSTON, MA) – Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) released the following statement today as President Trump announced the adoption of a final rule that unlawfully eliminates public review of most major infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
“Once again, President Trump is sacrificing the public good at the altar of the fossil fuel industry, pretending to sit on a throne rather than executing the laws as written by Congress,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “Instead of expediting worthy projects, Trump’s overreach and disregard of the law will mean more lawsuits and greater distrust of agency actions, while eliminating what is often the only avenue for the public to understand, help shape, or oppose ill-advised projects that put their health and their communities at risk.”
NEPA is one of the country’s core environmental laws, and it requires federal agencies to evaluate the potential impact of infrastructure projects before they are approved. The Trump Administration has proposed new regulations that exclude climate change considerations from this review process and drastically limit the number of projects covered, which will have serious consequences.
CLF experts are available for further comment.
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