Attorney General Bonta Joins Comment Letter in Support of Proposal to Strengthen Federal NEPA Regulations

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced joining a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing a comment letter in support of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposal to restore and strengthen its regulations implementing the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Enacted in 1970, NEPA is one of the nation’s foremost environmental statutes. A wide range of federal actions — including the approval of significant energy and infrastructure projects and key decisions concerning the management of federal public lands — require compliance with NEPA.

“For decades, the National Environmental Policy Act has helped us understand and consider the impacts of proposed federal actions on the environment and communities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “By supporting the Council on Environmental Quality’s proposed changes and advocating for improvements, we can continue making even more positive change. At the California Department of Justice, we are committed to protecting our environment and ensuring a sustainable future for all Americans.”

In 2020, under the Trump Administration, CEQ unlawfully rolled back its longstanding NEPA regulations. Specifically, the CEQ improperly narrowed NEPA’s statutory provisions, threatened meaningful public participation, and sought to restrict judicial review of agency actions. The Biden-Harris Administration’s CEQ is now proposing to restore portions of its pre-2020 NEPA regulations and require NEPA review to include consideration of environmental justice and climate change effects.

In their comment letter, the attorneys general support CEQ’s proposal and recommend additional changes to strengthen the rule, including:

• Strengthening analysis of climate change effects in all types of NEPA review, including requiring consideration of climate change effects when conducting environmental reviews of proposed actions that do not require preparation of an environmental impact statement.
• Providing direction to agencies on how to evaluate cumulative disproportionate adverse effects on environmental justice communities.
• Incorporating provisions of CEQ’s previously published greenhouse gas emissions guidance.

The comment letter represents the latest in a series of actions by the California Department of Justice aimed at protecting and strengthening the role of NEPA. In April 2023, Attorney General Bonta joined a multistate comment letter expressing support for the Biden Administration’s continued efforts to ensure meaningful reviews of the potential climate impacts of federal projects. In August 2020, then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra co-led a multistate coalition filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s 2020 rule weakening NEPA regulations, and to restore rules for meaningful environmental review of federal projects under NEPA.

In filing the comment letter, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. 

A copy of the comment letter can be found here.