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Cutting through America’s red tape: Both the executive branch and Congress should aim to curb the impediments posed by the weaponization of the National Environmental Policy Act
- February 1, 2025: Vol. 18, Number 2

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Cutting through America’s red tape: Both the executive branch and Congress should aim to curb the impediments posed by the weaponization of the National Environmental Policy Act

by R. Richard Geddes and Joshua Rauh

By all indications, President-elect Donald Trump is planning to make deregulation a key pillar of his new administration. His newly assembled Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will almost surely target not only the budget but also red tape. The President-elect also has made direct statements about regulation, recently pledging that those making investments of $1 billion or more in the United States “will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to all environmental approvals.”

Given these intentions, a first important step would be radical reform of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 (NEPA). NEPA requires that prior to funding, authorizing or implementing a broadly defined “federal action” (such as issuing a permit to build infrastructure), government agencies must consider the action’s consequences for the environment, as well as its related social and economic effects. That could include impacts on clean a

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