Outdoor Recreationists Applaud Biden Administration for Restoring NEPA
Photo credit: Josh Hild
The National Environmental Policy Act (almost always referred to as NEPA) is a core environmental law that ensures informed environmental reviews on projects that happen on public lands and waters and protects your right to have a voice in what’s happening.
The outdoor community interacts with NEPA in a lot of ways. Rock climbers provide critical feedback to local land managers on things such as climbing management plans, recreation permits and fee structures; backcountry skiers and mountain bikers assist agency officials with travel management plans; and kayakers share insights regarding river management issues such as dam removals. In 2020, when the BLM announced it would auction off 85,000 acres surrounding Moab, Utah, including the very popular Slickrock trail, thousands of outdoor enthusiasts spoke out against the proposal—NEPA is what makes these public comment opportunities possible. Over the years, NEPA has given millions of people a voice in decisions about what happens on public land and water.
About a year ago, we shared that the White House was working to update and strengthen NEPA following significant rollbacks made by the Trump Administration. The White House completed the first phase of this process in 2022, restoring basic environmental safeguards, with the help of many thousands of comments from outdoor enthusiasts like you.
Now they are moving on to the second phase of the process, which is called the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule. This second phase reverses more of the Trump-era regulations. It also has to implement the changes to NEPA that Congress recently passed through the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) during the debt ceiling negotiations earlier this summer.
While some of the changes mandated by the FRA weaken the NEPA process, overall the new regulations stay true to the law’s purpose of environmental protection and transparency. They incorporate the deadlines, page limits, and categorical exclusion provisions prescribed in the FRA but balance these elements with strong environmental justice requirements and clear guidance on incorporating climate change and other direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts, utilizing best available science, and sideboards on how categorical exclusions can be applied.
This new proposed Rule also marks the first time that CEQ explicitly mentions environmental justice as an issue that government agencies must consider in environmental reviews and the first time that CEQ mentions climate change in the NEPA regulations. These are both critical updates to meet twenty-first century challenges.
You can read more about NEPA Phase 2 from Winter Wildlands Alliance and American Alpine Club.
The comment period is closed now but you can read Outdoor Alliance’s full comment letter here.