U.S. Federal Law NEPA is being weaponized to block progress on climate change, infrastructure and housing with ballooning reviews!
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U.S. Federal Law NEPA is being weaponized to block progress on climate change, infrastructure and housing with ballooning reviews!
The battle over New York City’s landmark congestion price plan is the latest example.
After more than 50 years of efforts to implement a toll program that would slash greenhouse emissions from cars and reduce congestion in lower Manhattan, the plan cleared a milestone in May, when the federal government signed off on the release of an environmental assessment.
Then, last month, New Jersey sued to block the plan, citing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 (NEPA). The law requires federal agencies to give a detailed assessment of the environmental impact before approving projects that could significantly alter the environmental landscape
Congestion taxes have been successful in major cities worldwide but New Jersey alleges the Federal Highway Administration neglected to sufficiently analyse their effects on traffic diversion and environmental damage. Environmental review procedures have become a maze of paperwork and litigation, punishing smart growth, density, housing construction and public transit, say critics.
NEPA was passed in 1969 to slow government and environmental issues. It required federal agencies to consider environmental issues when planning and making decisions. Critics say NEPA and State level counterparts have strayed from their basic intent.
U.S. Federal Law NEPA is being weaponized to block progress on climate change, infrastructure and housing with ballooning reviews – Role of the 2 Presidents:
President Trump’s 2020 NEPA weakening would remove climate change from government project reviews.
President Joe Biden’s administration scrapped this proposal, but last month proposed a new rule to speed up permitting for clean energy and other infrastructure projects under NEPA. The proposals emerged from the bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling.
While the Environmental Defence Fund supports the Biden administration’s reforms to NEPA, it’s against a draconian rollback of environmental review, he said.
U.S. Federal Law NEPA is being weaponized to block progress on climate change, infrastructure and housing with ballooning reviews – Fallout of environmental reviews
These reviews have ballooned in size and often add months or years of delay to badly needed projects, including clean energy projects.
On average, a full environmental analysis now takes 4.5 years to complete.
U.S. Federal Law NEPA is being weaponized to block progress on climate change, infrastructure and housing with ballooning reviews – Reform attempts
The need to reform the environmental review process has become a bipartisan issue in recent years. But there are tensions between the competing goals of protecting the environment and also speeding up major infrastructure projects.
“This is a balancing between the need for speed and the need to protect core environmental values and the interest of communities,” said Elgie Holstein, a senior director for strategic planning at the Environmental Defence Fund and a former energy adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
There is disagreement among Democrats and Republicans about how far to go, and a split has emerged within the environmental advocacy movement over whether to support changes to NEPA.
Lawmakers are using NEPA to stall on projects that are focused on helping the climate crisis.
Countries such as UK and Sweden imposed a congestion toll and they saw a positive change in greenhouse gases emissions.
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