To SPEED or not to SPEED

U.S. environmental policy is set out in NEPA §101(a), which declares a continuing federal policy to use all practicable means to promote the general welfare and maintain conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony for present and future generations.

NEPA and its implementing regulations were largely stable until 2020, when the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) substantially rewrote the regulations. In 2023, Congress amended NEPA through the Fiscal Responsibility Act. In January 2025, Executive Order 14154 directed CEQ to rescind its regulations, which it did on April 11, 2025.

On July 4, 2025, a reconciliation bill added NEPA §112, allowing project sponsors to pay 125% of estimated government costs to supervise or prepare environmental reviews. The statute sets deadlines of 180 days for environmental assessments (EAs) and one year for environmental impact statements (EISs), timelines that do not reflect the wide variation in project scope, complexity, resources, public interest, or litigation risk.

On February 19, 2025, CEQ issued an interim final rule removing the May 2024 NEPA regulations and simultaneous guidance on implementation without them. The action bypassed normal notice-and-comment procedures. On February 25, 2025, CEQ issued a superseding document for public comment, with comments closing March 27, 2025.

This process created confusion and uncertainty. Although framed as permitting reform, it was more complex and less efficient than issuing new regulations under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Also on February 19, 2025, CEQ issued guidance instructing agencies to implement NEPA without the rescinded regulations, while suggesting agencies could voluntarily rely on them or use the largely unused 2020 rule as a framework for future procedures. These directions were internally inconsistent and undermined predictability.

CEQ regulations had been in force for 47 years and were amended only once before 2020. They provided a common framework used by all federal agencies, and no agency had requested their removal. Eliminating them risks inconsistency and uncertainty in federal decision-making and environmental law.

On May 29, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 8–0 in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County that courts owe substantial deference to agencies under NEPA and that agencies need not analyze upstream or downstream effects beyond their control or separated in time or place. The Court reversed a D.C. Circuit decision that had required broader analysis for an 88-mile rail project in Utah; Justice Gorsuch was recused.

Major changes under the second Trump administration have disrupted NEPA implementation. The statute itself, however, remains intact, including key requirements in §§102(2)(C) and 107(c).

Furthermore, The SPEED Act—Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development—passed in the House of Representatives December 18, 2025 with a vote of 211 - 196 and is now in the Senate. The bill redefines major federal actions, including to specify that an agency may not determine that an action is a major federal action based solely on the provision of federal funds. The bill makes numerous other modifications to NEPA, including limiting judicial review of NEPA cases. It is framed as NEPA permitting reform, intended to accelerate environmental reviews and provide greater certainty about their scope; however, it looks more like a bill to fast track fossil fuel projects.