Regulatory Alert: AAAE Submits Comments on White House's Proposed NEPA Rewrite
March 10, 2020
Today AAAE submitted comments in response to the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) proposed rule that would comprehensively rewrite the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations with the aim of speeding up infrastructure project reviews. AAAE offered a series of recommendations to ensure that the ongoing effort to modernize the NEPA review process meets the needs and interests of the airport community to undertake and complete key infrastructure projects while maintaining important environmental safeguards. AAAE's comments focused on improving transparency and accountability of agency reviews, enhancing coordination, eliminating unnecessary requirements and actions, making reviews more efficient, ensuring public comments are timely and meaningful, and modernizing the process for engaging with the public on environmental reviews. CEQ, a division of the White House, will now have to review over 162,000 comments as it moves forward with developing a final rule.
You can read AAAE's comments here.
Background. The Trump administration has made regulatory reform a significant priority. In 2017, President Trump issued an executive order that required CEQ to streamline the federal environmental review and authorization process for major infrastructure projects. In response, CEQ issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit stakeholder input on how to improve the regulations implementing NEPA. In August 2018, AAAE responded to the ANPRM, urging CEQ to eliminate unnecessary administrative actions and introduce accountability into the process to ensure NEPA reviews are conducted in a timely and coordinated manner. You can view those recommendations here. As explained in our January 9 Regulatory Alert, CEQ published this proposed rule after receiving over 12,500 comments in response to the ANPRM. The administration's stated objective is to update NEPA so that infrastructure can be built in a timely, efficient, and affordable manner.
Summary of Recommendations. CEQ's proposal included a significant number of changes to the regulatory framework governing NEPA reviews. Based on input received from members, including survey responses and a webinar discussion, AAAE provided recommendations and comments in response to many of these changes. Specifically, AAAE's response supported many improvements to the NEPA process, including:
Today AAAE submitted comments in response to the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) proposed rule that would comprehensively rewrite the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations with the aim of speeding up infrastructure project reviews. AAAE offered a series of recommendations to ensure that the ongoing effort to modernize the NEPA review process meets the needs and interests of the airport community to undertake and complete key infrastructure projects while maintaining important environmental safeguards. AAAE's comments focused on improving transparency and accountability of agency reviews, enhancing coordination, eliminating unnecessary requirements and actions, making reviews more efficient, ensuring public comments are timely and meaningful, and modernizing the process for engaging with the public on environmental reviews. CEQ, a division of the White House, will now have to review over 162,000 comments as it moves forward with developing a final rule.
You can read AAAE's comments here.
Background. The Trump administration has made regulatory reform a significant priority. In 2017, President Trump issued an executive order that required CEQ to streamline the federal environmental review and authorization process for major infrastructure projects. In response, CEQ issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit stakeholder input on how to improve the regulations implementing NEPA. In August 2018, AAAE responded to the ANPRM, urging CEQ to eliminate unnecessary administrative actions and introduce accountability into the process to ensure NEPA reviews are conducted in a timely and coordinated manner. You can view those recommendations here. As explained in our January 9 Regulatory Alert, CEQ published this proposed rule after receiving over 12,500 comments in response to the ANPRM. The administration's stated objective is to update NEPA so that infrastructure can be built in a timely, efficient, and affordable manner.
Summary of Recommendations. CEQ's proposal included a significant number of changes to the regulatory framework governing NEPA reviews. Based on input received from members, including survey responses and a webinar discussion, AAAE provided recommendations and comments in response to many of these changes. Specifically, AAAE's response supported many improvements to the NEPA process, including:
- Setting presumptive time limits of one year for environmental assessments (EA) and two years for environmental impact statements (EIS) that only a senior agency official may extend;
- Requiring lead agencies to develop schedules and milestones for completing reviews and requiring cooperating agencies to comply with these schedules;
- Developing a website and database containing records and updates regarding ongoing and past NEPA reviews;
- Allowing one agency to adopt another agency's determination that a categorical exclusion (CE) applies to a proposed action in certain circumstances;
- Permitting independent contractors to play a larger role in preparing an EIS, so long as the applicant agrees to their involvement;
- Excluding from NEPA review any proposed actions in which the federal government has minimal to no interest or involvement;
- Clarifying the scope of NEPA reviews to improve agency analysis, including explaining when NEPA applies and whether a CE is applicable;
- Protecting the public's right to engage in the review process while ensuring that their comments are timely, substantive, and not intended to delay project reviews; and
- Modernizing the methods which agencies use to engage with the public on reviews.
What's Next? CEQ has received over 162,000 comments from the public and is planning to move ahead with developing a final rule. The outlook of any ongoing NEPA modernization effort will significantly depend on the outcome of the presidential election and any potential court challenges that could be levied against any final rule. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would also have to modify its NEPA guidance after CEQ finalizes the rulemaking. AAAE will continue its engagement with CEQ and FAA to ensure the modernization of NEPA reviews meets the needs of the airport community.
If you have any questions, comments, or other feedback, please contact Justin Barkowski at justin.barkowski@aaae.org.
