Dismantling environmental review rules creates new obstacles to infrastructure deployment

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) asserts that the recent removal of CEQ's NEPA regulations by an interim final rule will hinder infrastructure deployment by increasing ambiguity and complicating interagency coordination. While intended to expedite permitting, CATF argues this action reverses recent trends in decreasing review timelines and removes essential tools like categorical exclusions and tiering frameworks. The document advocates for restoring these regulations or implementing data-driven reforms, such as increasing agency staffing and aligning jurisdictional requirements, to efficiently deploy clean energy infrastructure.

• The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has eliminated all current and prior government-wide rules for agency compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) via an "interim final rule," bypassing the notice and comment process.
• The removal of these regulations is expected to cause delays and uncertainty for project applicants and agencies, potentially reversing a downward trend in environmental impact statement (EIS) timelines, which had dropped from a median of 3.5 years (2013-2016) to 2.4 years (2021-2024).

APA

Pavia, N., & Sturges, F. (2025). Dismantling environmental review rules creates new obstacles to infrastructure deployment. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2025/03/dismantling-environmental-review-rules-creates-new-obstacles-to-infrastructure-deployment/

Chicago

Pavia, Nicole, and Frank Sturges. Dismantling environmental review rules creates new obstacles to infrastructure deployment. Clean Air Task Force, 2025. https://www.catf.us/2025/03/dismantling-environmental-review-rules-creates-new-obstacles-to-infrastructure-deployment/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Pavia |first1=Nicole |last2=Sturges |first2=Frank |title=Dismantling environmental review rules creates new obstacles to infrastructure deployment |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=27 March 2025 |url=https://www.catf.us/2025/03/dismantling-environmental-review-rules-creates-new-obstacles-to-infrastructure-deployment/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{pavia2025dismantling, author = {Pavia, Nicole and Sturges, Frank}, title = {{Dismantling environmental review rules creates new obstacles to infrastructure deployment}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://www.catf.us/2025/03/dismantling-environmental-review-rules-creates-new-obstacles-to-infrastructure-deployment/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }