Free Republic

ACCOMPLISHING PERMITTING REFORM IN RECORD TIME: Today, President Donald J. Trump delivered on his promise to fix a broken permitting system, ensuring that burdensome Federal environmental reviews cannot be weaponized to stall the growth of the American economy or halt energy infrastructure construction.The White House, through the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), coordinated a historic effort to dramatically reduce the burdens of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance across the Federal government so that America can get back to building again.In consultation with CEQ, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce (including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the...

President Trump’s deregulation effort has already delivered permitting reform.Today, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) took the final administrative action to complete one of the Trump Administration’s most significant deregulatory efforts, affirming the removal of CEQ’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations. CEQ rescinded these regulations last year; this final rule reaffirms that rescission and responds to comments received on the initial action. This final rule is now available for public inspection here, ahead of its forthcoming official publication in the Federal Register.On February 25, 2025, CEQ published an Interim Final Rule (IFR), which went into effect on April...

A federal appeals court determined that the White House does not have the authority to issue binding environmental regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), upending several decades of the practice. NEPA is a federal law that requires federal agencies to conduct a review of environmental impacts before making any decisions and then issue a “detailed statement” of the environmental review. In a divided decision Tuesday, the D.C. District Court of Appeals ruled that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), established to instruct agencies on NEPA compliance, does not have the power to issue regulations on other...

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (O-Okla.) has launched a probe into potential Hatch Act violations by the White House in its climate agenda advocacy. Inhofe today sent letters to EPA Administrator Curt Spalding and White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Nancy Sutley probing apparent coordination between CEQ and the Organization for Action (OFA) on events today pushing the president's climate change agenda and the potential violation of the Hatch Act. According to the Hatch Act, federal employees in the executive branch, except certain designated officials such as the President or Vice President, are prohibited from engaging in political campaign...

You know what to do. What a great, "educational" and "learning" experience this would be for a young person.

In comments filed with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Texas Farm Bureau said the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) for the proposed I-69 corridor “would not withstand judicial scrutiny.” Under the terms of the National Environmental Policy Act, these detailed environmental studies are conducted under rules developed by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). According to the farm organization’s comments, the failure of the DEIS to consider the environmental impact of using existing rights-of-way–rather than a single minded focus on building a completely new route–means the study could not hold up in...