The recent Supreme Court decision is the latest unjustified attack on NEPA. Here’s how to actually improve permitting.

The document critiques the Supreme Court's decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County and other government efforts to curtail NEPA, asserting that these actions create uncertainty and primarily benefit fossil fuel infrastructure rather than accelerating clean energy. It recommends improving agency capacity, aligning jurisdictional requirements, and enhancing community and Tribal engagement to streamline permitting.

• The Supreme Court's May 29, 2025, decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County directs courts to give 'substantial deference' to agencies regarding the sufficiency of environmental reviews and allows agencies to limit the scope of reviews by drawing a 'manageable line' around a project's effects.
• The author contends that limiting the consideration of upstream and downstream effects under NEPA primarily benefits fossil fuel infrastructure, as clean energy projects do not typically involve the same issues of upstream drilling or downstream greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Trump administration has taken several steps to weaken NEPA, including revoking the 1977 executive order directing the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to issue NEPA regulations and eliminating CEQ's 2024 NEPA regulations update, which required assessments of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental justice.
• The administration has implemented an 'energy emergency' to circumvent normal agency procedures for various energy resources, excluding wind and solar; for example, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced review timelines of 28 days or less, which the author argues are 'severely inadequate'.
• Legislative proposals in the House and Senate include 'pay to play' permitting, where sponsors pay 125% of anticipated agency costs in exchange for expedited environmental impact statements (one year) or environmental assessments (six months).
• To actually improve permitting and accelerate clean energy deployment, the document recommends investing in permitting personnel and data tools, harmonizing permitting processes across jurisdictions, and prioritizing early and meaningful community and Tribal engagement.

APA

Landau, K., & Sturges, F. (2025). The recent Supreme Court decision is the latest unjustified attack on NEPA. Here’s how to actually improve permitting. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2025/06/recent-supreme-court-decision-latest-unjustified-attack-nepa-heres-how-actually-improve-permitting/

Chicago

Landau, Kelsey, and Frank Sturges. The recent Supreme Court decision is the latest unjustified attack on NEPA. Here’s how to actually improve permitting. Clean Air Task Force, 2025. https://www.catf.us/2025/06/recent-supreme-court-decision-latest-unjustified-attack-nepa-heres-how-actually-improve-permitting/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Landau |first1=Kelsey |last2=Sturges |first2=Frank |title=The recent Supreme Court decision is the latest unjustified attack on NEPA. Here’s how to actually improve permitting. |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=23 June 2025 |url=https://www.catf.us/2025/06/recent-supreme-court-decision-latest-unjustified-attack-nepa-heres-how-actually-improve-permitting/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{landau2025recent, author = {Landau, Kelsey and Sturges, Frank}, title = {{The recent Supreme Court decision is the latest unjustified attack on NEPA. Here’s how to actually improve permitting.}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://www.catf.us/2025/06/recent-supreme-court-decision-latest-unjustified-attack-nepa-heres-how-actually-improve-permitting/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }