February 20, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on Trump Administration Efforts to Make Federal Environmental Decisions Behind Closed Doors, Without Any Public Input – 2.20.25
Announcement undermines the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Contacts:
Steve Bloch, Legal Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (801) 859-1552 (steve@suwa.org)
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Washington, DC – Yesterday, the federal Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ” – a division within the Executive Office of the President) announced that it had rescinded the federal regulations implementing one of our nation’s bedrock environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A version of these regulations had been in place for more than 50 years. Below is a quote from SUWA Legal Director Steve Bloch and additional information.
“With this announcement, the Trump administration has made crystal clear that it hopes to make federal environmental decisions behind closed doors, without public input, and without considering their impacts – these are decisions that will favor polluting industries and big business, rather than Utahns or the health of the federal public lands in our state. Utahns and Utah’s environment will be worse off because of these efforts,” said Steve Bloch, Legal Director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “The Trump Administration has complained that “local voices” are not being heard when federal agencies make public land management decisions – but with today’s action, they’re eliminating the very way in which locals and all Americans are able to provide input.”
Additional information:
Signed into law in 1970, NEPA embodies our nation’s environmental conscience and is considered one of the United States’ bedrock environmental laws. With its passage, Congress issued a sweeping declaration of values and a call to action that highlights the protection of human health and the environment in all federal agency decision-making. NEPA instituted a national policy of “look before you leap” by requiring that agencies carefully analyze and disclose the potential environmental impacts of a proposed action; it also guarantees that the public has an opportunity to participate in decision-making processes.
The first Trump administration significantly weakened NEPA by prioritizing pipelines, fossil fuel production, and road building over environmental and public health interests. Its rewriting of NEPA’s implementing regulations upended virtually every aspect of the law, leading to enormous public outcry; the Biden administration reversed the Trump damage when in April 2024, CEQ released a second set of final rules to restore certainty, efficiency, transparency, and meaningful public engagement in federal decision-making.
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.
