Trump EPA Moves to Speed Permitting by Reforming Its NEPA Comment Letter Process
WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a new implementation memorandum that promotes common sense, transparency, and clarity when EPA comments on other agencies’ Environmental Impact Statements under Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 309 and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Section 102(2)(C).
EPA has important, statutory-based advisory roles under NEPA and CAA Section 309, whereby other federal agencies can consult and seek the agency’s input on environmental reviews, including those conducted as part of federal permitting. EPA frequently submits formal comment letters to the lead agencies, providing analysis and recommendations that become part of the public record and can influence permitting decisions and agency actions.
Previous administrations have sometimes misused this process, deploying unhelpful and expansive comment letters that went well beyond EPA’s statutory authorities to stymie unfavored projects, causing confusion and costly delays. Today’s memo makes clear that those days are over and that, under President Trump and Administrator Zeldin’s leadership, EPA will restore its key advisory role in helping federal partners make timely, well‑informed decisions that protect human health and the environment, enhance transparency, and bring sanity back to the process.
Biden-era comment letters sometimes even pushed far-left objectives that had nothing to do with EPA’s statutory responsibilities, like advancing “environmental justice,” “net-zero” climate policies, and remedies for “historical injustices.” For instance, the Biden EPA once submitted a sixteen-page comment letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior regarding a coal mine project critical to domestic energy supply, opining about climate change, noise, and the widely discredited concept of the social cost of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The letter even included a recommendation to further connect the GHG impacts analysis of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to “the U.S. long-term strategy to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050” as well as “consistency with the state’s goals set forth in the [state’s]... Climate Solutions Plan.”
In another shocking episode, the Biden EPA submitted a comment letter recommending the project sponsor of a military installation ensure that its “conclusions regarding environmental justice impacts attempt to reflect the mental and emotional health impacts and the larger cumulative sense of loss and injustice.” EPA’s six-page comment letter also touched on a host of other topics not closely related to EPA's statutory authorities—unsurprisingly, the project was never completed.
These misguided and statutorily unbound comment letters only created confusion on what is required to get a project approved, leading to additional work by lead agencies, increased project costs to taxpayers, delayed final EISs, and years-long delays to key projects. The Trump EPA’s new memo ensures comments are clear, developed consistently throughout the agency, and closely tied to EPA’s statutory authority and expertise. This will lead to more efficient and less costly project approvals that still meet the agency’s strict environmental standards.
“EPA’s environmental expertise is most valuable when it is clear, consistent, and delivered early in the process,” said EPA Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi. “This memo helps EPA get actionable feedback to other federal agencies and project sponsors when it matters most—without wasting taxpayer resources analyzing topics that are outside of EPA’s authority—so that projects can move forward more quickly and with more clear and concise environmental impact statements.”
This memorandum will guide EPA staff as they draft comment letters and reinforces that EPA is an advisor, not the lead or final decisionmaker, on many federal projects. The Trump EPA will ensure its comment letters will support efficient, coordinated federal decision-making by providing plain‑language and practical recommendations that are squarely in EPA’s lane by zeroing in on clean air, water, and land for all Americans while also promoting economic growth.