NEPA Reform Accelerates: Agencies Embrace Flexibility, Speed in Environmental Review

Federal agencies are rapidly overhauling their NEPA procedures—prioritizing flexibility and faster timelines in ways that may significantly benefit energy, infrastructure, and defense projects. While critics warn of reduced transparency, the reforms reflect a strategic move to streamline environmental review in response to legal, legislative, and executive developments.

Key Drivers of Change

Recent reforms are enabled by:

• The Trump-era revisions to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA regulations, which reoriented NEPA toward streamlining and limiting the scope of environmental reviews;

• The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, narrowing the required consideration of indirect impacts;

• Amendments in the Fiscal Responsibility Act codifying certain streamlining measures; and

• A broader executive directive to accelerate permitting and reduce unnecessary bureaucratic delays.

Many agencies—like the Departments of Defense, Interior, and Energy—are shifting NEPA procedures into non-codified handbooks or internal guidance, avoiding traditional rulemaking. This approach gives agencies more agility to update processes in response to litigation or policy changes.

What Industry Should Know

• Department of Defense (DOD): Limits public comment requirements, caps EIS page lengths, and confirms that NEPA doesn’t compel mitigation unless required by other statutes.

• DOE: Removed NEPA review from Presidential permit procedures, citing the President’s inherent permitting authority.

• Interior: Moving NEPA procedures to a handbook with more reliance on categorical exclusions.

• FERC: Updating internal procedures to deliver faster, legally durable reviews.

Perspective

This shift will likely been seen by industry as a welcome step toward regulatory clarity. Agencies are not abandoning NEPA—they are modernizing it. Companies should watch for:

• Expanded categorical exclusions that reduce paperwork and review times.

• Non-codified procedures that carry practical weight, even if not legally binding.

• Reduced litigation risk from leaner, more defensible records.

  
  

Bottom Line

For project developers, this is a moment of opportunity. The new NEPA framework aims to preserve informed decision-making while eliminating unnecessary delay. With sound legal strategy, companies can leverage these changes to advance projects more efficiently in a shifting regulatory landscape.