ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL JOINS COALITION TO DEFEND CEQ’S REVISED REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING NEPA

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL JOINS COALITION TO DEFEND CEQ'S REVISED REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING NEPA

August 06, 2024

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a multistate coalition of 14 attorneys general in filing a motion to intervene in the U.S. District Court for North Dakota to defend the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) revised regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is the nation's foundational environmental law.

The CEQ's rule, finalized May 1, restores robust environmental review of proposed federal actions, weakened by regulations adopted by the Trump Administration in 2020. Currently, the CEQ's new rule is being challenged by 20 states, which aims to revert to the weaker 2020 rule.

"The environmental effects of proposed federal actions and projects should be thoroughly considered to ensure they will not harm human health or contribute to climate change," Raoul said. "I will continue to defend standards that ensure health or environmental risks posed by federal projects are disclosed to the public and fully considered before any decisions are made."

CEQ's regulations implementing NEPA were first adopted in 1978 and remained unchanged for decades. However, in 2020 they were weakened by limiting decisionmakers' and the public's review of the environmental effects of proposed federal actions. This included allowing projects that contribute to climate change, such as freeways, fossil-fuel fired power plants and fossil fuel pipelines.

The Biden Administration's rule reversed the 2020 rule, which requires federal agencies to consider if proposed projects will impair climate change and disproportionately impact minority or low-income communities that are disproportionally burdened by environmental harms. It also streamlines NEPA's review for environmentally beneficial clean energy projects.

In the motion, Raoul and the coalition expressed strong support for the CEQ's rule, which will:

• Promote economic growth by accelerating review for projects geared to bring environmental benefits, such as solar energy storage and electric vehicle chargers.
• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of environmental reviews.
• Protect communities that often bear the brunt of pollution.

Joining Raoul in filing the motion are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and the city of New York.