这项修订的支持者说，《国家环境政策法案（NEPA）（NEPA）的首次重大改革将使主要的联邦建筑项目更容易继续前进，但预计将对特朗普政府提案的环境团体提出法律挑战新利18备用网址肠道环境审查过程并加剧气候变化的影响。

政府于12月9日发布了其提议规则制定通知的草案，以回应唐纳德·特朗普总统的2017年执行命令，呼吁进行NEPA审查和现代化，以便能够建立更多的基础设施项目。新利18备用网址

In a call with reporters, Council on Environmental Quality Chair Mary Neumayr said, “over time, implementation of NEPA has become increasingly complex and time-consuming…the proposed rule seeks to reduce paperwork and delays and promote better decision-making, consistent with NEPA’s environmental policy.”

气候变化风险被淡化

Key provisions include limiting the time for completion of environmental impact statements to two years, and one year for environmental assessments; strengthening the role of lead agencies when multiple agencies are involved; soliciting public input earlier in the NEPA process; clarifying that suggested “reasonable alternatives” be technically and economically feasible; and enabling contractors and applicants greater input in preparing environmental impact statements.

The proposal also would not require agencies to consider the impacts that projects might have on contributing to climate change.

It comes after a series of reversals to Obama administration acts.

Last summer, the Trump White House directed publishing of draft guidance that removed “climate change” and suggested that when relevant, agencies should consider “whether the proposed action would be affected by foreseeable changes to the affected environment under a reasonable scenario, says Brianne Eby, policy analyst at the Eno Center for Transportation, a think tank in Washington. “It’s clear that the administration has made its goals apparent by removing climate change. What’s yet to be determined are long-term costs that could result from climate change, such as repairing roads damaged by severe storms.”

她说，法律挑战可能取决于新法规是否损害了基本环境保护法律。

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, claims in a statement that the proposed change is illegal because “courts have been crystal clear that NEPA requires considering climate impacts.”

Former President Richard Nixon signed NEPA into law in 1970, with the council developing regulations for federal implementation of the law in 1978 that was designed to ensure that the environmental impacts of projects requiring a federal permit--from pipelines to highways and airports to wastewater treatment plants—are considered as part of the decision to allow projects to be built.

However, administration officials say that the NEPA process has become increasingly costly, complex, and can delay needed projects from obtaining necessary permits for years.

进一步的议程

建筑小组对该提案表示赞赏，他们说这将使重要的基础设施项目能够建立，并将更多的工人投入工作。新利18备用网址

"The problem with the current environmental review process is that it long ago stopped being about evaluating the environmental impacts of a proposed project and has become a way for special interest groups to further their agenda by holding needed infrastructure and development projects hostage to countless lawsuits and delays,” says Stephen Sandherr, Associated General Contractors of America CEO.

美国道路与运输建筑商协会主席戴维·鲍尔（David Bauer）指出，完成一个新的联邦援助项目的NEPA流程可能需要长达七年的时间。“那太久了，”他说。

Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, says that its members have experienced “endless delays” on major infrastructure projects, and that the NEPA overhaul would “modernize the permitting process for energy and transportation projects and speed up the creation of good jobs while maintaining the underlying regulations that ensure that the environment and communities are protected.”

但是环境拥护者的反应迅速而愤怒。

带回家考试

美国环境保护局前总裁兼首席执行官兼自然资源国防委员会首席执行官吉娜·麦卡锡（Gina McCarthy保护自己免受无法弥补的伤害。”

她说，环保团体将使用我们的“工具箱中的工具”来防止该提案成为最终。

Sen. Tom Carper, top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee was particularly troubled by the proposal’s provisions that would enable companies to prepare their own impact statements. “We should not be giving self-graded take-home exams on polluting companies,” he said in a statement.

例如,测查的噢n numbers indicate that more than 95% of federal projects move forward with only minimal environmental review, the Partnership Project says, stating that less than 1% of projects require a detailed environmental impact statement, and the average time to complete the review is four and a half years.

But at a Dec. 9 news conference at the White House, officials noted that the proposal relates solely to the process of environmental review; it does not change the underlying bedrock environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.

该提案将于1月10日发布联邦登记册，公众有60天的时间来评论这些变化。