Biden Administration Will Bring Climate Criteria Back to Landmark


WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will return climate change protections to the National Environmental Policy Act, the nation’s core environmental law, owned by former President Donald J. Trump. weakened to speed up the approval of projects such as mines, pipelines, dams and highways.

The proposed changes will require the federal government to consider the climate change impacts of major new projects as part of the permitting process. They come as Congress weighs trillions of dollars spending plan infrastructure Improvements across the United States.

The Trump administration has bailed agencies out of thinking that proposed new power plants or pipelines, for example, could lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet. dangerous levels. It required agencies to analyze only “reasonably foreseeable” effects. Mr Trump said the change would remove “mountains and mountains of bureaucracy” which he said was delaying projects across the country.

But according to Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Environmental Quality Council, these changes were confusing and difficult to implement.

“Fixing these holes in the environmental review process will help reduce conflict and litigation and help remove some of the uncertainty caused by the previous administration’s rule,” he said.

Under the changes proposed by the Biden administration, agencies will have to consider the direct, indirect and cumulative effects of a decision – including considering the consequences of releasing additional pollution in neighborhoods already burdened by polluted air.

“The core community measures we propose to restore will help ensure that American infrastructure is built right the first time and delivers real benefits, not harm, to people living nearby,” Ms Mallory said.

Prominent Democrats and environmental groups embraced the movement.

Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, called it a “necessary first step” to “better protect communities from polluted air and water, especially those that are already overburdened by cumulative impacts.” multiple sources of pollution.

Senator Tom Carper, Delaware Democrat and chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, said the new rule would end legal uncertainty around the law. In June, a Federal District Court in Virginia dismissed a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against the Trump-era overhaul, but numerous other lawsuits are pending.

“At a time when we are on the verge of making a once-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure, the changes proposed today will increase certainty to avoid project slowdowns and lawsuits,” said Mr.

Some Republicans and business leaders who support Mr Trump’s changes warned Wednesday that adding layers of review would hinder the development of much-needed projects, including the mass transit and clean energy infrastructure that Mr.

“By undoing some of the most important updates to our old permit process, the Biden Administration’s newly proposed NEPA rule will only serve to slow down building the infrastructure of the future,” said Chad Whiteman, vice president of environmental and regulatory affairs. Global Energy Institute of the US Chamber of Commerce.

The new rule also proposes to empower federal agencies to work closely with communities to develop alternative approaches to projects.

The National Environmental Protection Act was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 after several environmental disasters, including a crude oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, and a series of fires in Ohio’s heavily polluted Cuyahoga River. .

The Biden administration is expected to release its report. suggested rule It will be on the Federal Register on Thursday and will comment publicly on its plans for 45 days before issuing a final policy.



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