President Joe BidenThe White House on Friday issued new guidance for federal agencies to assess greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts when reviewing proposed infrastructure projects.
Updated guidance from the White House Council on Environmental Quality adds to the administration’s reversal of a major Trump-era, industry-friendly move. inspection The National Environmental Policy Act, one of the country’s basic environmental laws. This is in addition to a White House rule last year that required federal agencies to re-evaluate everything climate environmental impact when examining pipelines, power plants, airports and other projects.
NEPA reviewsmust calculate the proposed action [greenhouse gas] emissions, placing GHG emissions in the appropriate context and revealing relevant GHG emissions and relevant climate impacts, and identifying alternatives and mitigation measures to avoid or reduce GHG emissions,” the new guidelines said.
CEQ chair Brenda Mallory said in a statement that the guidelines would “ensure that we build a sustainable and resilient infrastructure for the 21stSt century and beyond.”
Since 1970, NEPA has protected air, water and land by requiring federal regulators to conduct detailed environmental assessments of major infrastructure projects. In 2020, the Trump administration completed its first major law update in more than four decades, part of a broad administration effort to accelerate energy projects and other developments. Along with allowing agencies to ignore climate impacts, the rewrite largely excludes the public from the environmental review process. Critics condemned the rollback as attacking environmental justicebecause low-income people and communities of color are often affected by large-scale infrastructure projects.
The White House council’s new recommendations replace and build on 2016 guidance from the Obama administration that the Trump administration rescinded shortly after taking office. Along with prioritizing greenhouse gas emissions in the environmental review process, the guidance calls on federal agencies to “identify communities with environmental justice concerns” and “consider how the impacts of proposed actions may increase climate change-related hazards such as storm surges.” . . , heat waves, droughts, floods, and sea level changes.”
The guidance also distinguishes between renewable energy projects and carbon-intensive infrastructure, instructing regulators to “apply the rules of reason when determining the appropriate depth of analysis.”
“Absent exceptional circumstances, small and short-term GHG emissions associated with the construction of certain renewable energy projects, such as solar wind and utility-scale offshore wind, do not necessarily warrant a detailed analysis of lifetime GHG emissions,” he said.
The White House directive comes after a sweeping reform package, spearheaded by Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), has repeatedly failed to gain support in the Senate.
Environmental groups applauded the new NEPA guidelines. Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice, called “a great achievement for frontline communities fighting to have their voices heard across the country” and “important to steer federal agencies on the path to a fair and zero-emissions future.”