Contact:
Ben Schneider, 202-572-3279, bschneider@edf.org
Defend Our Future Testifies Against Trump Administration’s Attempt to Undermine Yet Another Bedrock Environmental Law
(Washington, DC – February 25, 2020) Defend Our Future joined hundreds of others at the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) public hearing today to speak out against the agency’s attempt to undermine the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), one of America’s foundational environmental laws.
The Trump Administration’s attempt to undermine NEPA is only their latest assault on climate policy, despite public support for climate action continuing to rise. Young people across the world are increasingly worried about climate change and are demanding their elected leaders take action.
At the second of two public hearings, Defend Our Future Intern Monica Nerz spoke about the dangers of the proposal.
“As a young person, this rollback is a major concern to me,” Nerz said. “NEPA is the foundational bedrock for America’s environmental policies and has served the nation’s interests well in ensuring there is an informed federal decision-making process over the past 40 years. NEPA requires federal agencies to establish better decision-making processes by taking environmental impacts into consideration as a result of their actions, mitigation practices and possible alternatives.
“The proposal appears designed to eliminate mandatory consideration of climate under NEPA,” Nerz continued. “Removing this requirement would not only be a bad idea for public health and our environment, but it will ultimately cost taxpayers more for projects that are not build to be resilient.”
NEPA requires federal agencies to take environmental impacts into consideration in their decision making processes. But Trump’s CEQ has proposed rolling back key requirements. If enacted, agencies would no longer have to consider the “cumulative” or “indirect effects” of their actions, ignoring climate change-causing emissions from federal actions.
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Defend Our Future, a project of the Environmental Defense Fund, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to empowering young people of all political persuasions who are interested in advancing climate change and clean energy solutions that grow our economy and protect the world for future generations. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
