If
you haven't heard of NEPA, you're not
alone.
The
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the most sweeping environmental law
on America's books.
It
requires a thorough study of the environmental impact of any major federal
construction project, law or regulation before it becomes the law of the land.
Thus,
NEPA has become the bane of the existence of many a developer or
"anti-environment" policymaker since that sly ol' treehugger, Richard
Milhous Nixon, signed it into law nearly 50 years ago, on January 1, 1970.
The
law also created the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the
leading White House environmental advisors.
But
a president who is most often compared to Nixon seems hell-bent on crippling or
wiping out several Nixon-era creations, including NOAA, EPA, the Clean Air Act,
NEPA, and the Clean Water Act (which Nixon actually vetoed as too costly, but
an environmentally bipartisan Congress overrode the veto).
The
law called for a process that often took three to five years to measure up,
say, a roadbuilding project that might cross swords with an endangered species
listing or prospective Clean Water Act violation. (Note: Trump has already
found ways around NEPA – for example, exempting the habitat-destroying Border
Wall from a multitude of enviro laws,
including NEPA.)
A
few years ago, the Natural Resources Defense Council defended NEPA's successes
with an exhaustive rundown citing
examples from all 50 states. But even NEPA's staunchest defenders concede that
three to five years' delay on projects can be as burdensome as its requirement
for public comment are helpful.
Power transmission line and pipeline projects,
including the longstanding tussle over the Keystone XL Pipeline, are front and
center lines of conflict in Congress, in court, and in a potentially
"streamlined" NEPA process.
An
environmental battle that's nearly as venerable as NEPA itself could be drawn
into the mix next year.
As the Trump Administration pushes for oil drilling in
the the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, conservationists and Indigenous
Alaskans are fighting the drilling in a portion of the sprawling refuge.
The
Interior Department has moved directly to leasing
without a full environmental review, something experts say goes
directly against NEPA.
For
environmentalists, NEPA's requirements for public input could be a major loss.
After all, their whimsical play on the NEPA acronym is "Never Eliminate
Public Advice."
