Federal agencies have produced little evidence that any infrastructure projects have been expedited under an executive orderissued in early June by President Donald Trump, who cited need to speed up or even ignore environmental reviews in the "national emergency" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic's economic hit.

Thedirective旨在提高根据联邦运输，能源和其他项目的批准，以促进就业增长和相关投资，并在美国法律中的合规规定，例如《国家环境政策法》（NEPA）绕过紧急案件的项目。新利18备用网址

根据该命令，美国运输部美国陆军民事工程部门，美国室内部和其他部门将在7月4日之前向管理和预算办公室（OMB）以及白宫经济和新利18备用网址环境单位，随着工作进度的更新每30天“在Covid-19”“紧急情况”的“持续时间”。

环境al advocacy group The Center for Biological Diversity released earlier this month anInterior Dept. July 15 list of 66various infrastructure projects—from a highway upgrade and expansion in Maryland to a controversial LNG terminal and pipeline in Oregon—for which exemptions to provisions of NEPA and the Endangered Species Act are being considered.

Listed projects include the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline in Virginia; Lake Powell water pipeline in Utah. and S. Route 58/220 Bypass to the North Carolina state line feasibility study.

Lots of Questions

The list is within a letter the group received from Deputy Interior Secretary Katherine S. MacGregor, in response to its July lawsuit filed after several agencies did not respond to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking similar lists of actions and decisions on projects in response to the order.

目前尚不清楚是否另一个gencies have submitted lists or 30-day updates to OMB or White House units as required.

“白宫正在努力为快速轨道项目竭尽所能，但是它是否成功是一个未解决的问题，”生物多样性政府事务中心政府事务中心布雷特·哈特尔（B新利18备用网址rett Hartl）在较早的声明中告诉Enr。新利18备用相关项目将是“橡皮图新利18备用网址”的，而无需任何环境审查。

在背景下发表讲话的华盛顿内部人士说，该命令仅“给代理商进行轻推”，而没有任何额外的豁免规则。

内部清单包括来自需要NEPA和濒危物种法案允许的各新利18备用网址个机构的项目。

“Many project reviews are already on shorter schedules” from previous changes and the agency will examine those and others for additional expedited review, said MacGregor's letter to Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council.

Heads of Interior Dept. agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the U.S. Agriculture Dept.'s U.S. Forest Service told a Washington, D.C. federal court that they would alert the court on Oct. 16 when they will release relevant documents. The White House Council on Environmental Quality and OMB said they would file a joint status report to the court of documents received also on that date.

The Corps of Engineers, which awards Clean Water Act permits, has not yet responded to ENR’s request for a copy of its list. A Transportation Dept spokesman said the agency is reviewing an ENR request for its list and project status changes.

Hartl said the environmental group will keep pushing for documents, saying it released Interior’s project list to “sound the alarm” to states and others with links to or interest in project approvals.

国家有关注

在看到清单后，分享科罗拉多河流域水的七个州中有六个是给内政部长戴维·伯恩哈特（David Bernhardt），要求他“避免发布最终的环境影响声明或决策记录”。国家就拟议项目提出的法律和运营问题达成共识。

这封信说，如果没有达成共识，该项目估计耗资高达19亿美元，可能面临多年的诉讼。

In a separate request, Utah officials asked the Bureau of Reclamation to delay the EIS, which has been set for an expedited release in November, because of the volume of pro and con responses received during a comment period that ended Sept. 8 and the need for more analysis. The ROD, the final approval, has been set for early 2021 release.

Congress also is pushing agencies to release their lists.

The U.S. House Committees on Natural Resources, and Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, as well as 54 members of Congress urged the White House to release the documents after Chase Jennings, OMB deputy director, said “these reports are not public.”

但是国会代表在他们的要求中表示：“如果政府确信该行政命令可以合法和合法地提供经济救济，它应该披露其在该命令的主持下进行的项目和决定。”新利18备用网址

They asked for all reports submitted to the Council on Environmental Quality by any federal agency head to identify any planned or potential actions.

Ewelina Czapla, director of energy policy for the American Action Forum, a center-right policy institute, said in an opinion column that it is understandable for the administration to want to expedite infrastructure projects during the pandemic. “The outcome of its actions, however, may simply be more litigation and delays,” she said, noting that public interest groups have wondered how they can voice their concerns about projects secretly selected to skip such steps as notice and comment.

Meanwhile, the Council the Council on Environmental Quality issued a final rule in July to streamline NEPA reviews for infrastructure projects, andon Sept. 24 issued guidanceon how to complete those reviews on projects during an emergency response.

“Alternative arrangements do not waive the requirement to comply with the statute, but establish an alternative means for NEPA compliance,” the guidance says.