AEA Applauds NEPA Modernization Announcement

Long overdue overhaul will get American infrastructure projects out of the courtroom and onto the construction site

Today, the American Energy Alliance voiced its support for the White House's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) final rule updating regulations implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

When it was first signed into law in 1970, NEPA served as a way for federal agencies to consider the impacts of their actions, helping them to balance a range of interests. Today, NEPA is a massively expensive and time-consuming liability that threatens to derail crucial infrastructure and energy development projects. NEPA, as it currently operates, is the model of an outdated regulation that has been exploited beyond recognition from its original purpose.
After forty years, an overhaul was clearly overdue, and today’s announcement paves the way forward to de-politicize America’s permitting and infrastructure improvement process.

Thomas Pyle, President of the American Energy Alliance, issued the following statement in support of the announcement:

“The American Energy Alliance applauds the administration's modernization of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA is one of the most inefficient, growth-slowing, infrastructure-stopping laws we have in the U.S., desperately in need of this modernization. Americans need, and deserve, updated infrastructure to get them safely where they need to go and ensure affordable, reliable energy arrives to their cities, communities, businesses, and homes. Radical environmental groups have twisted the intent behind NEPA and leveraged the legal system to their advantage in a coordinated effort to slow and stop progress. This long overdue modernization will get American infrastructure projects out of the courtroom and onto the construction site.”

Additional Resources

• NEPA Reform Overdue: Broken, Abused Law Must Be Modernized for Real Progress to Occur
• Presidential Message on the 50th Anniversary of the National Environmental Policy Act
• NEPA.gov

About AEA
AEA is a not-for-profit organization that engages in grassroots public policy advocacy and debate concerning energy and environmental issues. AEA is the advocacy arm of the Institute for Energy Research, a tax-exempt public foundation that conducts intensive research and analysis on global energy markets.