Regulatory Alert: AAAE Solicits Feedback on CEQ's Proposed NEPA Update
February 18, 2020
AAAE is distributing a survey to members to solicit feedback on the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) proposed rule that would modernize and update the procedural requirements for ensuring the federal government's compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). As outlined in our January 9 Regulatory Alert, the White House's CEQ recently published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would comprehensively rewrite the NEPA regulations with the goal of speeding up environmental reviews for infrastructure projects. The current deadline for submitting comments is March 10, 2020. While over 8,300 comments have already been posted to the docket, there have been nearly 59,000 received so far.
You can find AAAE's NEPA update survey here. We highly encourage you to provide input before February 26, 2020, as it will help us appropriately respond to this important rulemaking.
Background. Given that airports spend a significant amount time ensuring compliance with NEPA, AAAE and the airport community have long urged the White House to streamline and reduce unnecessary processes and requirements in environmental reviews. In 2018, AAAE submitted comments to CEQ urging the introduction of more accountability, time limits, and transparency into the NEPA review process to ensure airports and the public can properly measure the performance of reviewing agencies. AAAE also recommended eliminating unnecessary administrative actions and processes which lead to delays and do not further the original purpose of NEPA, that is, to minimize adverse impacts to the environment. Updating NEPA was also a key priority outlined in the joint airport regulatory reform priority list established by AAAE and ACI-NA that was previously submitted to the Trump Administration.
Resources on Proposed Rule. AAAE has prepared and compiled resources to help educate and familiarize members with the details of the proposed rule. AAAE recently held a webinar discussion and made available for review the recording and presentation slides. AAAE has also prepared a summary of the key changes to existing regulations from the proposed rule. You can access these documents and more at the following links:
AAAE is distributing a survey to members to solicit feedback on the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) proposed rule that would modernize and update the procedural requirements for ensuring the federal government's compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). As outlined in our January 9 Regulatory Alert, the White House's CEQ recently published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would comprehensively rewrite the NEPA regulations with the goal of speeding up environmental reviews for infrastructure projects. The current deadline for submitting comments is March 10, 2020. While over 8,300 comments have already been posted to the docket, there have been nearly 59,000 received so far.
You can find AAAE's NEPA update survey here. We highly encourage you to provide input before February 26, 2020, as it will help us appropriately respond to this important rulemaking.
Background. Given that airports spend a significant amount time ensuring compliance with NEPA, AAAE and the airport community have long urged the White House to streamline and reduce unnecessary processes and requirements in environmental reviews. In 2018, AAAE submitted comments to CEQ urging the introduction of more accountability, time limits, and transparency into the NEPA review process to ensure airports and the public can properly measure the performance of reviewing agencies. AAAE also recommended eliminating unnecessary administrative actions and processes which lead to delays and do not further the original purpose of NEPA, that is, to minimize adverse impacts to the environment. Updating NEPA was also a key priority outlined in the joint airport regulatory reform priority list established by AAAE and ACI-NA that was previously submitted to the Trump Administration.
Resources on Proposed Rule. AAAE has prepared and compiled resources to help educate and familiarize members with the details of the proposed rule. AAAE recently held a webinar discussion and made available for review the recording and presentation slides. AAAE has also prepared a summary of the key changes to existing regulations from the proposed rule. You can access these documents and more at the following links:
- CEQ NPRM on Update to Regulations Implementing NEPA (Published Jan. 10, 2020)
- AAAE Regulatory Alert with Highlights from NPRM
- AAAE Webinar on the NEPA Update Proposal
- AAAE Presentation Slides from Webinar on NEPA Update Proposal
- AAAE Summary of Proposed NEPA Changes
If you have any questions, comments, or other feedback regarding the proposed update to the NEPA regulations, please contact Justin Barkowski at justin.barkowski@aaae.org.
