Round Two of Environment Permit Change to Ask: Revert or Refine?

The process of recasting the nation’s environmental permitting rules is going to be a two-step approach, and phase two is likely to drill even deeper into the changes put in place by the Trump administration, former government officials predict.

The first step, announced on Wednesday, tells agencies to consider the indirect and cumulative effects of permitting decisions and restores their power to develop other ways of constructing projects. The Biden administration has been under pressure to redo the National Environmental Policy Act rules, which affect oil and gas pipelines, federal mining projects, roads, bridges, renewable energy projects, and other ...