May 3, 2024--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Most energy observers would agree that the federal environmental review process is broken, but there are sharp partisan differences about the cure. The Biden administration weighed in with its remedy April 30, a 136-page final rule to "reform, simplify and modernize the federal environmental review process" under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock federal environmental rule that was signed into law over five decades ago. Unless stayed by a federal judge, the Biden administration's modifications to NEPA are scheduled to become effective July 1.

The final rule, if it withstands all-but-certain court challenges, will affect federal agencies' environmental assessment of oil and gas pipelines, oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters, clean energy projects such as renewable electricity generation, transmission projects tied to those clean energy projects, highways and other infrastructure projects that require a federal permit.