(CN) — The White House Council on Environmental Quality on Tuesday finalized a rule to simplify and modernize the federal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The so-called Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule implements numerous provisions that were included in last year's Fiscal Responsibility Act, the council said, such as giving agencies clear deadlines to complete environmental reviews; requiring a lead agency (and setting specific expectations for lead and cooperating agencies); and creating a unified and coordinated federal review process.
The rule establishes new and more flexible methods for agencies to create categorical exclusions, which is the fastest form of environmental review for activities that are deemed to have no adverse impact on the environment. The council said it will speed up low-impact projects, the council said, from solar storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure to transmission improvements and broadband deployment.
As such, it will boost the Biden administration's efforts to accelerate the deployment of clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing and other crucial infrastructure.
“President Biden has unleashed historic investments to build our clean energy future, make long-overdue infrastructure upgrades across the nation, and deliver benefits to communities that have been historically left behind,” said Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “These reforms will deliver smarter decisions, quicker permitting, and projects that are built better and faster.”
In addition, the rule makes clear that agencies should consider the effects of climate change in environmental reviews and encourage identification of reasonable alternatives that will mitigate climate impacts. In that regard, the council said it restores a longstanding approach that was rolled back by the Trump administration.
Similarly, the council said it reversed "legally questionable" provisions by the Trump administration that set "detailed and onerous requirements" on public comments and that attempted to curtail judicial review: The new rule promotes early public engagement in the environmental review process to help ease conflict, accelerate reviews and improve the design and outcomes of the project.
Environmental advocates welcomed the new rule and said it goes beyond repairing "vandalism to the law by the Trump administration" to promote climate-smart policies and advance environmental justice.
“These rules leverage the National Environmental Policy Act in service of a just and equitable transition from fossil fuels towards renewable energy while safeguarding core conservation values and providing communities with a voice in our fight against the climate crisis,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center.
However, the new rule was condemned quickly by U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat representing West Virginia and the chair of the Senate Energy Committee, who said the Biden administration went beyond what was agreed upon in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“At a time when everyone agrees that it takes too long to build infrastructure in this country, the Administration’s new NEPA regulations will take us backwards," Manchin said Tuesday. "All the White House had to do was implement the commonsense, bipartisan permitting reforms in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, that all sides agreed upon, but once again they’ve disregarded the deal that was made, the intent of the law that was signed, and are instead corrupting it with their own radical agenda."
According to Manchin, the final rule will only lead to more costly delays and litigation, and he said he would lead a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval "to get back to the deal that they cut with Congress and signed into law.”
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