Trump’s Next Big Assault on the Environment & the People:
Stripping the Public Voice and Environmental Protection by Stripping Strength from the National Environmental Policy Act
The National Environmental Policy Act, generally referred to as NEPA, was among the first major environmental protection laws passed at the federal level. NEPA ensures that the public has a role in government decisionmaking by ensuring the public an opportunity to speak on federal actions that could have significant adverse impacts on the environment. NEPA ensures government agencies provide the opportunity for public input in the form of written comments and often as testimony at public hearings.
NEPA does not mandate that federal agencies advance only those projects and decisions that are protective of environmental resources, but it does seek to ensure that federal agencies and the public are fully informed about the environmental, economic, and health impacts prior to any major government decision.
Now the Trump administration is preparing to dismantle this iconic and fundamentally important law. Signed in to law by President Nixon, NEPA has been supported for decades by republicans and democrats alike. In short, Donald Trump is seeking to remove the public from having a full and fair say in the decisions that affect every aspect of their lives and from ensuring we are fully aware of the impacts these decisions will have on our health, environment, and lives.
We need your voice now to oppose the dismantling of NEPA and to urge a longer comment period in order to expand the voices that need an opportunity to be heard. Please submit your comment today, and be prepared to submit additional comments as we learn more and add additional action opportunities.
NEPA requires that agencies consider the public health, community, economic, and environmental impacts of things like:
→ New highway construction
→ Siting of hazardous waste facilities like Elcon, including their siting in floodplains or near towns, and their hazardous air emissions
→Construction of pipelines like PennEast through private lands or public parks
→Dredging or deepening of streams or rivers for navigation
→Construction of dams like Tocks Island
→Filling of wetlands to advance development
→Leasing of National Parks for gas drilling
→Destruction of historic landmarks like the 200 year old Headquarters Road Bridget
→And so much more
NEPA makes sure that the decisions made are based on good information, considering all impacts and all alternatives for accomplishing the desired goal.
NEPA has prevented some colossal mistakes that would have devastated natural resources and also wasted taxpayer dollars. For example, NEPA helped save over $1 billion in North Carolina when environmental review found that the proposed Garden Parkway toll road outside Charlotte would not fix congestion and would instead have severely damaged the Catawba River. Further, NEPA analysis indicated that, instead of creating jobs, the Parkway would likely have encouraged jobs to move out of state. These conclusions galvanized the public to oppose the project and prevented taxpayers from being saddled an enormous bill of $1 billion.
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