Trump Administration Launches Sweeping Attack on Environmental Review, Silencing Communities and Ignoring Climate Impacts
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a sweeping and coordinated move, the Trump administration has begun rolling out a series of new regulations across multiple federal agencies—including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Air Force, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)—that severely weaken the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). These actions follow the administration’s earlier rescission of the Council on Environmental Quality’s government-wide NEPA rules and mark a broader effort to strip away basic safeguards in environmental decision-making.
The new rules eliminate agency requirements to consider climate change, environmental justice, and cumulative impacts in permitting decisions. They restrict the public’s ability to weigh in on major infrastructure and industrial projects, and in some cases, allow entire categories of polluting activities to escape meaningful environmental review.
The following is a statement from Christy Goldfuss, executive director at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“Americans want things built quickly and safely—with real community input and without sacrificing public health, ecosystems, or fairness. But that’s not what this administration is delivering. Instead, these changes will fast-track fossil fuel, mining, and other industrial projects by sidelining science, ignoring climate change, and shutting the public out of the process.
“The reality is, NEPA isn't the problem here, and gutting it won't solve our permitting challenges. What it will do is allow more pipelines without public input, more mining without health safeguards, and more industrial development without any honest accounting of the harm. Under these rules, projects will move forward in darkness. The public will have little to no information about potential impacts on their health or their property.
“This is entirely about handing power to fossil fuel and mining interests and shutting the public out of decisions that directly impact their lives. That’s not reform—it’s reckless.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).