CEQ Withdraws Guidance on NEPA and Climate Change
Date: April 5th, 2017
Explanation: Guidance
Agencies: CEQ
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the withdrawal of its Final Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change in NEPA Reviews. CEQ withdrew the guidance pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth.
Guidance on Consideration of GHG Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change in NEPA Reviews [withdrawn]
In August 2016, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released final guidance for Federal agencies on how to consider the impacts of their actions on global climate change in their National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. This final guidance provides a framework for agencies to consider both the effects of a proposed action on climate change, as indicated by its estimated greenhouse gas emissions, and the effects of climate change on a proposed action. The final guidance applies to all types of proposed Federal agency actions that are subject to NEPA analysis and guides agencies on how to address the greenhouse gas emissions from Federal actions and the effects of climate change on their proposed actions within the existing NEPA regulatory framework. Below is the guidance and related information, including a list of greenhouse gas accounting tools available to Federal agencies.
Related Documents:
- Sabin Center Comments on Revised Draft Guidance on the Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change in NEPA Reviews (submitted March 24, 2015)
Deregulatory Action: On March 28, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order directing CEQ to rescind the final guidance on climate change and NEPA reviews. On April 5, 2017, CEQ published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the withdrawal of the guidance.
Executive Order 13783: Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth
On March 28, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order aimed at at dismantling many of the key actions that have been undertaken at the federal level to address climate change. The order directs EPA to review and potentially rescind or re-write important regulations such as the Clean Power Plan (CO2 emission standards for existing power plants), CO2 emission standards for new power plants, and methane emission standards for the oil and gas sector. It also revokes a number of executive orders and actions, including: guidance on calculating the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions, an imposing a moratorium on federal coal leasing, and guidance on how to account for climate change in environmental reviews. Finally, it directs all agencies to review existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources, with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy resources, and to develop recommendations on how to alleviate or eliminate aspects of agency actions that burden domestic energy production.
A detailed summary is available on our Climate Deregulation Tracker here.
See also: OMB Guidance Document on Implementation of EO 13783 (May 8, 2017). This guidance focuses on implementation of Section 2, which requires agencies to review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources, with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy resources, and to develop recommendations on how to alleviate or eliminate aspects of agency actions that burden domestic energy production.