Court Speeds Consideration Of Injunction Request For CEQ's NEPA Rule

摘要

A federal district court says it will quickly consider environmentalists' request for a preliminary injunction of the White House Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) rule to significantly streamline agency implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), meaning a decision could come before the rule takes effect next month. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia slated an Aug. 24 telephone conference on the issue but also set a series of fast deadlines - over objections by the Trump administration - including an Aug. 25 deadline for CEQ to file a motion to dismiss the case, and Sept. 2 deadlines for CEQ to respond to the preliminary injunction motion and for environmentalists to respond to the motion to dismiss. The case, Wild Virginia, et al. v. CEQ, et al., was transferred Aug. 24 from Senior Judge Norman Moon, who set the schedule Aug. 21, to Chief Judge Michael Urbanski, who is presiding over the status conference. The order also schedules a Sept 4 hearing on both motions as well as a Sept. 9 deadline for each side to file replies. The Aug. 21 order notes that the suit challenging the CEQ rule was filed July 29, less than two weeks after its July 16 issuance. Then, less than three weeks later the plaintiffs sought the injunction and expedited briefing, as well as a decision before the rule takes effect Sept. 14.