August 28, 2020
Carson City, NV – Today, Attorney General Aaron D. Ford joined a multistate
coalition in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful
final rule curtailing requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) that federal agencies review and assess the impact of their actions on
the environment. The final rule also limits public participation in the review
process, robbing vulnerable communities of the opportunity to make their voices
heard on actions that are likely to have adverse environmental and health
impacts. In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that the final rule abandons
informed decision making, public participation, and environmental and public
health protections in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and
NEPA.
“The
National Environmental Policy Act has played a critical role in protecting
public health and our environment,” said AG Ford. “The Trump
Administration’s rollback of these important protections endangers Nevada’s
environment now and for future generations. Nevadans deserve a say in how our
own land, water, and air is protected. I filed this suit to fight back against
the Trump Administration’s attempt to silence our voices in how our own
environment is protected.”
Enacted in 1969, NEPA has served as our
nation’s bedrock law for environmental protection. NEPA requires that before
any federal agency undertakes “major Federal actions significantly
affecting the quality of the human environment,” it must consider the
environmental impacts of the proposed actions, alternatives to the actions, and
any available mitigation measures. Numerous federal actions, from the approval
of significant energy and infrastructure projects to key decisions concerning
the management of federal public lands, require compliance with NEPA. For
example, the Attorney General recently utilized NEPA in challenging the Trump
Administration’s decision to ship up to one metric ton of “weapons-grade”
plutonium to Nevada without adequately analyzing the environmental impacts and
risks involved.
On July 15, 2020, the Trump Administration’s
Council on Environmental Quality announced a final rule upending the
requirement that federal agencies comprehensively evaluate the
impacts of their actions on the environment and public health. This will
result in agencies taking actions without fully understanding the impacts of
those actions on climate change, overburdened and underserved communities,
water and air quality, and sensitive, threatened, and endangered wildlife. In
addition, the final rule so severely limits NEPA’s public participation process
that it threatens to render it a meaningless paperwork exercise.
In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that the
final rule violates NEPA and APA because it:
Is contrary to NEPA’s language and
purpose and exceeds the Council on Environmental Quality’s statutory authority;
Is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of
discretion, and otherwise not in accordance with law; and
Was promulgated without preparing
an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement evaluating the
rule’s environmental and public health impacts.
In addition to Nevada, the following states and
public entities have joined the coalition: California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and
Guam, as well as the City of New York, Harris County, the Connecticut
Department of Environmental Protection, and New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation in filing the lawsuit.
A copy of the lawsuit can be found here.
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