January 21, 2020

On the Heels of the Trump Administration’s Attempt to Undermine One of the Nation’s Bedrock Environmental Laws, Chairs DeFazio, Grijalva, Ranking Member Carper, and 164 Members of Congress Press CEQ to Allow More Public Input

Washington, D.C.—Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works Tom Carper (D-DE), along with 123 House Members and 41 Senators urged the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to extend the public comment period for the Trump Administration’s proposed rule to fundamentally re-write the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. The members stressed that this unprecedented re-write of existing regulations must be carefully considered by all parties who will be affected, including disadvantaged and tribal communities.

“The administration’s proposed rule raises a number of concerns, particularly the guidance to federal agencies to no longer consider the impacts of climate change when developing and planning federal infrastructure projects. When tackling new and critical projects across the country, we need to consider the impacts to our environment. Pretending as if climate change doesn’t play a role in long-term impacts is reckless and costly. Not only is removing these requirements a bad idea for public health and our environment, but it will end up costing taxpayers more when projects aren’t built to be resilient. Removing the requirements also disregards decades of legal precedent. The courts have been crystal clear that NEPA requires the consideration of climate impacts. The proposed rule ignores these clear legal obligations,” the Members wrote.

 

A full copy of the letter can be found here.

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