Westerman Bill Would Gut Environmental Review, Silence Communities, and Empower Polluters

WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) introduced legislation that would deliver the most sweeping rollback of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) since the law was enacted more than 50 years ago.

According to NRDC experts, the so-called SPEED Act would reframe NEPA as a toothless procedural formality—stripping away its core safeguards, gutting public participation, and blatantly tilting the permitting process even further in favor of polluting industries.

Following is a reaction from Kabir Green, director of federal affairs for Nature at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“The SPEED Act isn’t about building smarter or faster—it’s about rigging the system to hand fossil fuel companies a blank check at the expense of the public and the environment.

“This bill would force agencies to ignore the reality that dirty energy projects drive climate change while dismissing the benefits of clean energy alternatives. It would ban the use of cutting-edge science, strip communities of their right to know what’s being built in their backyards, and it would even block courts from halting harmful projects when they are found to be illegal.

“Americans want things built quickly, safely, and fairly. But instead of taking aim at bottlenecks or improving clean energy siting, this bill would scrap environmental protections and rush dirty projects through in the dark. The public deserves better than a system designed to hide the consequences and protect corporate profits at their expense.”

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).