The Trump Administration has revoked core federal environmental regulations, impacting the way federal agencies review a project’s environmental impacts, including impacts to cultural resources. Since the 1970s, the National Environmental Policy Act and its implementing regulations have provided critical protections for communities that face encroachment on their cultural resources and sacred sites from development projects. These regulatory changes will create potential conflict for developers with local communities interested in the protection of their cultural resources and landscapes against harmful environmental impacts.
CHP continues to track these and other significant changes to our regulatory landscape (see our Fight Back page for more information about the implications of the Energy Emergency Executive Order on protection of our nation’s cultural heritage). Here, we provide some analysis for what these changes could mean for the future of project review under NEPA.
Background
Congress passed NEPA in 1970 to require federal agencies to evaluate impacts of federal actions that will have a significant effect on the human environment. Since 1978, federal agencies have applied NEPA regulations created by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the federal agency charged with oversight of NEPA’s implementation. However, the Trump Administration issued an Interim Final Rule on February 19, 2025 that rescinds these regulations. The Interim Final Rule follows Executive Order 14154 titled “Unleashing American Energy,” which directed federal agencies to expedite permitting for energy projects and called on the CEQ’s Chairman to propose rescinding NEPA’s regulations.
The Interim Final Rule relies on Marin Audubon Soc’y v. Federal Aviation Authority, a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on November 12, 2024, which held that the CEQ did not have the express authorization of Congress to adopt the regulations in the first place.[1] Shortly thereafter, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota decided Iowa v. CEQ and held that CEQ’s 2024 NEPA regulations were issued without congressional authority and therefore invalid. The Interim Final Rule cites these cases in support of revoking CEQ’s regulations.
What does the Interim Final Rule change?
The Interim Final Rule revokes the NEPA regulations approved by CEQ in 2024 and specifically notes that the CEQ may not have power to issue regulations upon federal agencies. It also rejects well-established Supreme Court case law that has upheld the CEQ’s NEPA regulations in the past. Agencies may continue to use their own NEPA implementing procedures, if applicable, or rely on NEPA regulations for pending actions. Yet, the wholesale recission of CEQ’s NEPA regulations will limit oversight of a wide swath of projects. In addition, while the Interim Final Rule does not apply retroactively to projects that have already received permits,[2] it does refer to Executive Order 14154, which directs agencies to review and potentially revise their NEPA procedures. Finally, the Interim Final Rule requests comments from the public until March 27, 2025, on this action.
What will happen in the future?
The Final Interim Rule creates extreme uncertainty for any pending and future project that requires federal approval—and how federal agencies will consider historic and cultural resources—because federal agencies now lack clear guidance concerning how to apply NEPA and whether to follow agency-specific NEPA regulations or the NEPA regulations in place before 2024.
Protracted litigation over which standards to apply is likely to occur in federal courts across the country, leading to different rulings and greater uncertainty for projects, as opposed to “unleashing” energy development as intended. Indeed, developers may find this level of uncertainty at the regulatory level actually leads to project delays and more challenges for risk management, particularly as the changes undermine some of the processes created to address local communities’ concerns. How historic and cultural resources will fare—and other environmental resources—will require preservation advocates to stay vigilant to what is happening on the ground, while continuing to monitor closely the legal ramifications and avenues for challenging these decisions.
Submit comments, due March 27, 2025, on proposed NEPA revisions here, at the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
How else can you help?
- Sign up for our email distribution list to receive urgent updates.
- Submit notices or calls to action for posting to our community.
- Contact us confidentially on Signal (marionchp.106) or by email (fightback@culturalheritagepartners.com) to alert us to potential cases to defend cultural heritage and to let us know what you are seeing and hearing in your preservation work.
[1] This argument was never raised by the parties.
[2] Nothing will prevent future litigation over the validity of these permits, however, considering the precedent cited in the Interim Final Rule.