CEQ Denies Petition Seeking New NEPA Policies To Assess Projects' GHGs

摘要

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is formally denying environmentalists' petition seeking updated regulations and final guidance on how federal agencies should assess projects' greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts in their National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, arguing such reviews already account for climate impacts. The administration is also asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit over its delay in responding to the 2008 petition, but the petition denial will allow environmentalists to sue over the merits of CEQ's argument that updated NEPA regulations and the final GHG guidance are not necessary at this time. "CEQ does not believe that revising its existing NEPA regulations is necessary because they already encompass consideration of climate effects and it is not the best use of CEQ's resources at this time for meeting its obligations under NEPA," the council writes in an Aug. 7 response to the 2008 petition from International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) and several other groups.