fbpx

Biden Brings Climate Back to Symbolize Environmental Act by Reversing Trump


WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will announce on Tuesday that it is once again restoring parts of a core environmental law that requires climate impacts to be considered and required input from local communities before federal agencies approve highways, pipelines, and other major projects.

The administration plans to revive the requirements of the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, which was repealed by President Donald J. Trump, who complained that mines, road widenings, and similar projects slowed development.

The final rule, announced Tuesday, will require federal agencies to conduct an analysis of the greenhouse gases that could be emitted over the lifetime of a proposed project, as well as how climate change could affect new highways, bridges and other infrastructure, according to the White House. Environmental Quality Council. The rule will also enable agencies to give communities directly affected by projects a greater role in the approval process.

The council’s chairperson, Brenda Mallory, described the regulation as restoring “basic community safeguards” that the Trump administration had removed.

“Fishing these holes in the environmental review process will help projects build faster, be more resilient, and bring greater benefits to people living nearby,” he said.

Move comes as President Biden’s climate agenda Facing headwinds from Congress and the courts. The president is also under pressure to increase oil production as a way to curb high gas prices in the United States. The Ministry of the Interior said last week. would begin offering leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands and watersdespite Mr Biden’s campaign promise to end new leases. Senior management officials argued this week that the lease order was necessary because of a court order, and said it also increased the federal royalties that companies must pay for drilling.

On Saturday, which is Earth Day, Mr. Biden will be in Seattle and aides said he is expected to deliver a speech highlighting the clean energy initiatives that Congress allowed as part of last year, along with efforts to expand solar and offshore wind farms. A $1.2 trillion bilateral infrastructure package.

Administration officials said the new rule would not have major immediate implications, as the Biden administration has already weighed the climate change impacts of proposed projects. However, it will force future administrations to either comply with the process or undertake a lengthy regulatory process and possibly enter into legal difficulties to get it back again.

The National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 after several environmental disasters, including a crude oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, and a series of fires in heavily polluted areas. The Cuyahoga River in Ohio shocked the nation.

It commissions federal agencies to assess potential environmental impacts before allowing proposed major federal actions to continue. Agencies don’t need to reject projects that could make climate change worse – just to study and report on impacts.

The Trump administration has bailed the government out of thinking that proposed new dams or pipelines, for example, could increase emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. dangerous levels. It required agencies to analyze only “reasonably foreseeable” effects. Mr Trump said the change would remove the “mountains and mountains bureaucracy” he said was delaying projects across the country.

According to the changes announced Tuesday, agencies will have to consider the direct, indirect and cumulative effects of a decision – including the impact of a new project on neighborhoods already polluted by pollution.

The administration’s changes also encourage agencies to explore alternatives to projects that local communities oppose, and says the law’s requirements are “floor instead of ceiling” when it comes to environmental reviews.

Republicans and some business groups oppose the changes, arguing that additional scrutiny will delay development of much-needed infrastructure.

In comments to the Environmental Quality Council, the American Association of Road and Transportation Builders, a trade organization, wrote that federal reviews for many transportation projects take five to seven years, and some take as long as 14 years. He argued that the new rule would only make things worse.

“Project delays resulting from the current NEPA process will often result in demonstrable and significant costs to taxpayers,” the group said in a letter to the agency. “This is simple logic based on continued increases in labor and material costs, among other factors.”

Democrats and environmental groups embraced the movement.

Raúl M. Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the Trump administration had “robbed and hollowed out” environmental protection measures.

“I am pleased that this administration has realized what a huge mistake these actions were and has moved forward to restore the protections that have helped protect our environment for decades while promoting sustainable development,” he said.

The new rule also proposes authorizing federal agencies to work closely with communities to develop alternative approaches to projects. Historically, the NEPA process has been one of the most important tools available to local communities to try to change or stop projects that could cause significant harm.

The last rule represents the first stage of a two-stage editing process. Administration officials said they would propose a series of more sweeping changes to the law in the coming months.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

(0)