Biden reinstates environmental impact studies restricted by Trump

The announcement concerns a law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), according to which any major construction project in the United States - highways, oil pipelines... - must be preceded by an environmental impact study, carried out by the relevant federal agency.

In 2020, the administration of Republican President Donald Trump had limited its application, including the need to consider a project's "cumulative" impacts (such as contribution to climate change), arguing that such studies were too complex and took too of time.

The Biden administration, which since taking office has reversed many environmental decisions made by Mr. Trump, has thus chosen to restore the previous rules.

Federal agencies will again have to assess the "direct, indirect and cumulative consequences of an action," the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) wrote in a statement. This includes assessing "comprehensively the impacts on climate change", as well as "the additional pollution released for neighborhoods already burdened by polluted air or dirty water", he specifies.

Federal agencies will also be able to once again study "alternative approaches likely to minimize the environmental and public health cost", in consultation with local populations.

The White House promises that this will not cause additional delays for construction projects under consideration.

This measure will "help ensure that projects are built in the right way from the start", said Brenda Mallory, head of the CEQ, quoted in the press release.

The Democratic administration has also indicated that it will "in the coming months" propose additional changes to this law.

The latter will have to intervene "as quickly as possible" and be "as strong as possible", commented Leslie Fields of the environmental NGO Sierra Club, while welcoming that this "basic environmental protection" has now been restored.

The government's announcement is "an essential step forward", added Abigail Dillen, of the Earthjustice association, but "the Biden administration cannot stop there."

The government of Joe Biden, which has made the fight against climate change one of its priorities, has in particular attracted strong criticism in recent days from environmental associations, after the announcement of the resumption of sales of concessions for the hydrocarbon exploitation on federal lands.