CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Attorney General JB McCuskey is leading a group of states urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to speed up the environmental reviews required before major construction projects can be approved.
The states filed a comment letter supporting an EPA proposal to change how the agency carries out the National Environmental Policy Act.
What the law requires
Congress passed NEPA in 1970. It requires the federal government to study and document how a project would affect the environment before approving or funding it. Highways, water systems, power plants and pipelines all fall under the law.
NEPA does not decide whether a project moves forward. It sets out the review that must be completed first.
What the EPA proposed
The proposed rule would set firm deadlines for reviews, limit the length of environmental reports and expand the categories of projects that can skip a full review.
Those changes would make the process faster and more predictable without weakening accountability, McCuskey’s office said.
The states’ case
The states wrote that NEPA has tied projects up in long reviews, growing paperwork and the threat of lawsuits. They argue Congress meant the law to impose modest procedural steps, and that groups opposed to particular projects have used it to cause delays.
McCuskey said the proposed rule “reins in how NEPA is used and streamlines the process,” which he said would let projects West Virginians need move ahead faster. He blamed environmental advocacy groups for using the law to stall projects they opposed.
The letter points to recent changes narrowing NEPA’s reach, including the Fiscal Responsibility Act signed in 2023, along with actions by President Donald Trump, Congress and the Supreme Court.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming joined the letter.