U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy this week released three sets of landmark revisions to the Department’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures.
These revisions, which cut USDOT’s NEPA procedures in half, will slash red tape, accelerate major infrastructure projects, minimize delays, and curb soaring compliance costs, according to a statement from the department.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, America is building again,” Duffy said. “USDOT’s NEPA reforms will make it possible to deliver roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure projects faster and more affordably. For too long, unelected Washington bureaucrats have weaponized environmental reviews to create endless delays and block projects. No more. These changes will help usher in a golden age of transportation for the American people.”
These updates combine six separate sets of procedures into one unified USDOT Order, providing a one stop shop for USDOT NEPA reviews for most of USDOT’s Operating Administrations (OAs). Two other sets of revisions include the NEPA procedures for FAA, and the procedures used by FHWA, FRA and FTA. Across USDOT, OAs will enforce hard deadlines, simplify categorical exclusions, and hone NEPA’s focus.
The Department released three specific updates to its NEPA implementing procedures: (1) Department-wide Order 5610.1D; (2) Joint FHWA, FRA, and FTA procedures, 23 CFR Part 771; and, (3) FAA’s Order 1050.1G. The Department is issuing these updates in coordination with the White House Council on Environmental Quality in furtherance of the Trump Administration’s strategy to simplify the environmental review and permitting process and to ensure efficient and timely environmental reviews.
Key changes by USDOT and the other agencies include enforceable deadlines and page limits for environmental studies, clarifying that NEPA only kicks in when agencies truly control a project’s environmental footprint, and streamlined “categorical exclusions” that exempt routine, low-impact actions from lengthy analysis. The measures will fast-track roads, bridges, broadband and energy installations.
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