Council on Environmental Quality’s Final Phase 2 Rules for NEPA Streamline Process but Also Expand Agency Review
July 2024
Environmental, Energy, & Climate Change Law & Policy Reporter, Volume 4, Number 10
On May 1, 2024, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) unveiled the final Phase 2 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rule, also known as the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule (Rule or Phase 2 Rule). See 89 Fed.Reg.35442. This Rule marks the culmination of the Biden administration’s multi-year initiative to streamline and modernize NEPA’s environmental review process. Effective on July 1, 2024, the Rule applies to all federal projects with reviews and supplemental reviews for certain incomplete or ongoing activities initiated after that date. Additionally, the Phase 2 Rule allows agencies to apply the regulations to ongoing activities and environmental documents under development. Individual federal agencies have until July 1, 2025, to revise their NEPA regulations to incorporate any necessary changes.
Subscribers to the Environmental, Energy, & Climate Change Law & Policy Reporter or the California Water Law & Policy Reporter can read the full legislative update here.