{"id":282939,"date":"2023-10-12T11:20:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T09:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282939"},"modified":"2023-10-12T11:20:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T09:20:50","slug":"biden-nepa-rule-faces-stiff-legal-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282939","title":{"rendered":"Biden NEPA rule faces stiff legal challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court will not let the CEQ rule stand as written.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\u00a0CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A rule proposed this summer by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) meant to roll back Trump-era reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is headed for its day in court after attorneys general in 24 states blasted the proposal in public comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on Jan. 1, 1970, NEPA created a set of environmental assessments federal agencies are to complete before approving projects \u2014 such as the construction of roads and bridges or the extraction of energy or minerals \u2014 that fall under their jurisdiction. Projects that do not receive an agency\u2019s NEPA approval do not get off the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the statute\u2019s enactment, NEPA\u2019s procedures have become so time-consuming that they have tied up infrastructure and other projects for years. NEPA\u2019s red tape has often discouraged developers from going ahead with a project, knowing it will take an eternity to get a coveted Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that allows ground to be broken. Opponents of such projects have become adept at filing lawsuits claiming that a proposed project violated NEPA in some way, further slowing down the snail\u2019s tempo of the NEPA approval process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration overhauled NEPA by issuing a rule that, among other things, shortened the length of documents the agencies are to prepare and setting strict timelines within which assessments are to be completed. Not surprisingly, the Biden administration reversed the Trump changes with its own proposed rule that reinstates many onerous procedures and adds vaguely worded climate considerations aimed to thwart projects not to its liking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMajor Questions\u201d Doctrine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, AGs from 24 red states are charging the Biden CEQ with trying to transform NEPA from a procedural statute to one specifically designed to move the country away from fossil fuels. They note that the Biden NEPA rule bears a striking resemblance to an Obama-era attempt to have the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) impose such strict emissions regulations on coal-fired power plants that utilities had little choice but to shutter the facilities in favor of wind and solar power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in its landmark June 2022 decision in West Virginia v. EPA<\/em>, the U.S. Supreme Court found that EPA lacked the statutory authority to issue such a sweeping rule. The high court held that EPA\u2019s action violated the \u201cmajor questions\u201d doctrine, under which federal agencies cannot issue economically or politically significant regulations unless specifically empowered by Congress to do so. In other words, federal executive agencies cannot make up power out of whole cloth and must adhere to the constitutionally mandated \u201cSeparation of Powers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cmajor questions\u201d doctrine is cited by the 24 AGs in arguing that the Biden NEPA proposal constitutes an overreach of congressional authority. They point to language in the proposal that would allow agencies to consider alternative project designs that lie outside that agency\u2019s jurisdiction. \u201cThat rule could, for example, allow federal regulators considering a natural gas pipeline to instead consider an alternative project like a solar or wind generation project,\u201d Climate Wire<\/em> reported (Oct. 5). \u201cThat authority \u2018vastly expands the potential impact NEPA may have on agency decisions\u2019 the attorneys general said.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not Bluffing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By citing the \u201cmajor questions\u201d doctrine, the AGs\u2019 comments are a not-so-veiled threat to take the Biden administration to court unless the language in the proposed NEPA rule is not altered significantly. The NEPA rule, which would have a far-reaching nationwide economic impact, undoubtedly involves a \u201cmajor question.\u201d Attorney General Bird and her colleagues are not bluffing; they know that the Supreme Court will not let the CEQ rule stand as written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonner R. Cohen is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, where he concentrates on energy, natural resources, and international relations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also serves as a senior policy adviser with the Heartland Institute, senior policy analyst with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and as adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Articles by Dr. Cohen have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investor\u2019s Business Daily, New York Post, Washington Times, National Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, Detroit News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Miami Herald, and dozens of other newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has been interviewed on Fox News, CNN, Fox Business Channel, BBC, BBC Worldwide Television, NBC, NPR, N 24 (German language news channel), Voice of Russia, and scores of radio stations in the U.S. Dr. Cohen has testified before the U.S. Senate committees on Energy & Natural Resources and Environment & Public Works as well as the U.S. House committees on Natural Resources and Judiciary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has spoken at conferences in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Bangladesh. Dr. Cohen is the author of two books, The Green Wave: Environmentalism and its Consequences (Washington: Capital Research Center, 2006) and Marshall, Mao und Chiang: Die amerikanischen Vermittlungsbemuehungen im chinesischen Buergerkrieg (Marshall, Mao and Chiang: The American Mediations Effort in the Chinese Civil War) (Munich: Tuduv Verlag, 1984). Dr. Cohen received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and his Ph.D. \u2013 summa cum laude \u2013 from the University of Munich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court will not let the CEQ rule stand as written. From\u00a0CFACT By\u00a0Bonner Cohen, Ph. D. A rule proposed this summer by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) meant to roll back Trump-era reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is headed for its day in court after attorneys general in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":282945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Supreme Court will not let the CEQ rule stand as written.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691823547,691823546,691818670,691818772],"class_list":{"0":"post-282939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-iowa-attorney-general-brenna-bird","9":"tag-national-environmental-policy-act-nepa","10":"tag-supreme-court","11":"tag-u-s-president-joe-biden","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0Scales-of-Justice-Environment-961826918_blog.jpg?fit=1500%2C987&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1bBx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":360607,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=360607","url_meta":{"origin":282939,"position":0},"title":"US Supremes Hear Climate Lawfare Case to Stop Oil\u00a0Railway","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Supreme Court recently heard a\u00a0major case,\u00a0Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado,\u00a0that will affect the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The case concerns the\u00a0permitting of a proposed Utah railway that would ship oil\u00a0from the Uinta Basin, potentially\u00a0quadrupling its oil production.\u00a0The 88-mile\u00a0Uinta Basin Railway would\u00a0connect\u00a0the oil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0supreme-court-storm-AS-1280-1080x675-1.jpg?fit=1080%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0supreme-court-storm-AS-1280-1080x675-1.jpg?fit=1080%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0supreme-court-storm-AS-1280-1080x675-1.jpg?fit=1080%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0supreme-court-storm-AS-1280-1080x675-1.jpg?fit=1080%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0supreme-court-storm-AS-1280-1080x675-1.jpg?fit=1080%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":383407,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383407","url_meta":{"origin":282939,"position":1},"title":"NEPA reform time","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/16\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On Billie Joe McAllister Day, the U.S. Supreme Court shockingly issued an 8-0 decision (Justice Gorsuch abstaining) that substantially limits the scope of the 55-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, the nation\u2019s foundational environmental law. 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