Regulatory Alert: White House Rescinds NEPA Regulations; Directs Agencies to Continue Following Their Existing Guidance

February 25, 2025

Today, the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued an interim final rule that rescinds all of the council’s regulations that govern how federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), conduct National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. Separately, CEQ released a memorandum that provides guidance to agencies on how to implement their obligations under NEPA in light of the withdrawal of CEQ’s NEPA regulations and consistent with the administration’s priorities. Both actions are in response to an executive order that President Trump issued on day one of his presidency.

Collectively, CEQ’s rule and memorandum to agencies have several implications. First, CEQ has provided some initial direction to agencies on how to fulfill their NEPA obligations, directing them to continue using their existing implementation guidance and procedures. This is important, as a court decision last November created significant uncertainty for FAA on how to conduct a proper NEPA review. Second, CEQ has effectively eliminated the consideration of climate change and environmental justice concerns during the review process, rolling back a major priority of the Biden administration. Third, agencies must now update their implementation guidance (e.g., FAA Order 1050.1F) within the next 12 months, creating a potential opportunity for stakeholders in the foreseeable future to weigh in on how FAA implements CEQ’s new directives.

We must note, however, that court challenges to CEQ’s rule and memorandum could occur, which may delay or inhibit CEQ from implementing the Trump administration’s priorities for NEPA reviews. We will keep members apprised of ongoing developments and opportunities to provide feedback to FAA on any future updates to their implementation guidance.

Background. Any actions undertaken by a federal agency, such as issuing a grant or approving an ALP update, are subject to the NEPA review process. Since 1978, the CEQ has established and enforced the regulations that govern how each federal agency, including the FAA, is required to conduct a NEPA review. However, in November 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a decision in Marin Audubon Society v. FAA, finding that CEQ’s regulations are invalid because the council does not have statutory authority to promulgate regulations that are binding on other agencies. The decision created significant confusion as to how agencies are expected to comply with NEPA, which has potential negative impacts on infrastructure project approvals.

Executive Order: Revocation of CEQ Rulemaking Authority. As we reported in our January 21 Regulatory Alert, President Trump issued an executive order on day one of his administration that revoked the authority of the CEQ to promulgate regulations dictating how agencies must comply with NEPA. This effectively affirmed the Audubon Society decision. In addition, the order directed CEQ and the appropriate agencies to carry out three primary actions:

Within 30 days (or February 19), CEQ must propose a rescission of its NEPA regulations and provide guidance to each agency on how to implement NEPA in light of the withdrawal of the regulations.
CEQ must coordinate the revision of each agency’s NEPA implementation guidance. Each agency’s updated guidance must “expedite permitting approvals” and “prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives” that could add delays and ambiguity to the permitting process.
DOT, FAA, and other agencies must undertake “all available efforts to eliminate all delays within their respective permitting processes, including through, but not limited to, the use of general permitting and permit by rule.”

Takeaways and Analysis from CEQ’s Rule and Memorandum. Based on our initial review and analysis of CEQ’s interim final rule and memorandum, we have highlighted some key takeaways for airports:

Directive for Agencies to Update NEPA Guidance: President Trump’s executive order requires each agency to update their NEPA implementation guidance. In the case of FAA, this would be FAA Orders 1050.1F and 5050.4B. CEQ’s memorandum directed agencies to use a final rule that the council issued in 2020 under the first Trump administration as the “initial framework” for any updates to its guidance. Airports may recall that the 2020 rule focused on, among other things, (a) narrowing the scope of environmental impacts from a proposed action that are considered; (b) establishing presumptive deadlines and page limits for the completion of NEPA documents; and (c) improving interagency coordination.
Timeline for Agencies to Update NEPA Guidance: CEQ’s memorandum directs each agency to revise their NEPA implementation guidance and procedures within 12 months, or by February 2026. Within 30 days, agencies must provide a proposed schedule to CEQ that explains when the procedures will be updated within this timeline.
Rolling Back Changes from the Biden Administration: Last year, the Biden administration finalized its update to CEQ’s NEPA regulations, which required agencies to ensure that climate change and environmental justice concerns are considered during the review process. With the rescission of CEQ’s regulations and the council’s memorandum, agencies have been directed to ensure that NEPA documents do not include an environmental justice analysis and only the “reasonably foreseeable effects” of a proposed action are considered, not “cumulative effects,” which was the basis for the consideration of climate change concerns.
Comments on CEQ’s Interim Final Rule: The rescission of CEQ’s NEPA regulations will go into effect on April 11; however, the council is still requesting comments by Thursday, March 27. Comments are only being requested on the act of rescinding its regulations in their entirety, not the substance of any prior rulemakings to modify CEQ regulations or the content of the regulations. Thus, any submission of comments from organizations or airports focusing on streamlining the NEPA process are likely inappropriate and out of scope.
Impacts on Ongoing and Pending NEPA Reviews: AAAE has heard from some airports that FAA has paused some ongoing NEPA reviews to ensure they are aligned with the administration’s priorities. However, CEQ’s memorandum makes it clear that agencies should continue following their existing NEPA implementation procedures and guidance, consistent with the direction given in the executive order and memorandum. Indeed, CEQ’s memorandum specifically states that “[a]gencies should not delay pending or ongoing NEPA analysis” while it complies with the executive order and updates its NEPA guidance. The memorandum also allows agencies to voluntarily rely on the existing CEQ regulations (that are being rescinded) when “completing ongoing NEPA reviews.”
Shifting Approach to Update the NEPA Process: Over the past decade, both political parties have sought to make changes to the NEPA review process to advance their respective priorities. However, these efforts have had limited success because of the amount of time necessary to conduct rulemakings to update CEQ’s regulations, and each of the rules have been challenged in court. The Audubon Society decision and the executive order are a noteworthy departure from past efforts because (a) CEQ is no longer conducting a multi-year rulemaking to affect changes to the NEPA process; and (b) agencies now have more discretion to develop their own implementation guidance and procedures that are tailored to their unique mission. This approach opens the door for the incoming administration to implement changes to NEPA more quickly than in the past. However, there are still some questions as to how successful the approach will be, as we would not be surprised to see a court challenge to CEQ’s interim final rule.
Creating More Predictability in NEPA Reviews: President Trump’s January 20 executive order requires agencies to “prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives” when updating their NEPA implementation guidance. AAAE has long advocated for regulatory certainty and clarity in the review process. In practice, however, that is hard to achieve, as the broad nature of the NEPA directives often creates significant discretion in field offices. Nevertheless, we are actively requesting feedback from members on how we can push for more clarity in NEPA reviews, starting with an increase in the use of categorical exclusions. Please see our February 25 Regulatory Alert for additional details, and our regulatory reform survey here.