Republican Senators Submit Comments on CEQ's Outline Guidance Under NEPA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Kristina Baum - 202.224.6176
Donelle Harder - 202.224.1282 

Republican Senators Submit Comments on CEQ's Outline Guidance Under NEPA

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, led Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in a letter to Christy Goldfuss, managing director for the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) submitting comments on Outline guidance from the CEQ on considering climate change under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In the comments submitted, Senators listed twelve concerns for why the rule should be withdrawn:

"We are deeply disappointed that the administration is continuing down a path that is both illegitimate and irresponsible. For the reasons set forth below, we once again urge you to withdraw this Outline guidance. Failure to do so will paralyze agency action, including actions needed to create jobs and grow our economy, by requiring endless and meaningless analyses and creating new opportunities for litigation to delay and block important projects," the Senators said in the letter.

NEPA requires federal agencies to consider the impact of federal actions on the quality of the human environment. In 2010, CEQ issued a Outline guidance that many Senators asked to be withdrawn. In December 2014, CEQ issued a revised Outline guidance that goes even further, by including land management actions. This new Outline guidance would apply to all federal projects, permits, and land management activities including highways, oil and gas exploration, and any plan requiring a 404 permit. The CEQ guidance directs agencies to include climate change in NEPA analyses, using greenhouse gases (GHG) as a surrogate while considering all upstream and downstream impacts, no matter how remote. The Outline guidance creates the potential for citizen activists to stall or stop projects.

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