Green Groups Fear Environmental Review Changes
Date: 25-Sep-03
Country: USA
The recommendations would update the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the three-decade-old law that requires federal agencies to review the environmental impact of their regulations or actions.
The White House's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which is responsible for ensuring that agencies comply with NEPA, wants to modernize the law.
"The Bush administration's 'streamlining' strategy for NEPA would amount to steamrolling environmental protections and public input," said Sharon Buccino, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
She said the administration was "all too willing to sacrifice public participation and environmental review to promote its pro-development, pro-industry agenda."
Environmental groups have charged that the Bush administration wants to weaken NEPA to give industry greater leeway in pursuing projects like logging, oil drilling and highway construction.
James Connaughton, who chairs the CEQ, defended the recommendations, saying they would improve the review process and not drag out such projects.
"We're looking for a more effective and more timely NEPA process that is more collaborative, which means the government can be more efficient in doing these reviews," he told reporters in a brief telephone conference call.
Connaughton refused to take questions on the recommendations.
A CEQ official, who did not want to be identified, said agencies would still have to conduct environmental impact statements on various projects, but the review process would be quicker and not become bogged down.
Under the recommendations, however, environmental impact statements would no longer be required for projects that have been repeatedly done and have been shown not to have significant effects on the environment.
For example, it would be easier to remove dense undergrowth in national forests, which the Bush administration and some land management experts believe would help reduce forest fires.
Environmentalists fear such a policy would lead to more destructive logging.
Several public meetings will be held around the country over the next few months to get public input on the recommendations.
Some of the recommendations could be implemented by the end of the year, the official said. While Congress enacted NEPA, the CEQ has the authority to change how it's administered.
Connaughton could act on his own in deciding which of the recommendations should be adopted, though he would likely confer with the appropriate agencies, the official said.
The task force, convened in July 2002, includes officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Department of Energy, among others.
The full list of recommendations can be found on the CEQ Web site at http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/ntf/report/index.html.