The National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) Protects Everyone; It Must Be Safeguarded
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 21, 2025
Contact: Ashley Sullivan, ashley.sullivan@weact.org
WASHINGTON — This week, in a self-serving, short-sighted, and dangerous act, the Trump administration issued a memo for federal agency leaders and an interim final rule to remove the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) ability to carry forward the bedrock law of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), undoing 50 years of protections. This effort further unveils a nefarious agenda by the Trump administration that aims to trade the lives of people and our environment for the profit of polluting companies – especially frontline communities living in sacrifice zones near industrial facilities, highways, and other dangerous infrastructure. This new ruling creates an open door policy for polluters outlined by Trump executive orders, intending for the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) not to protect environmental quality, but rather to advance potentially damaging and deadly projects. The effort is another example of prejudiced and hazardous policy by the administration that specifically undermines the ability for Black, Brown and low-income people – who already live with outsized legacy pollution and related health crises – an opportunity to defend their rights and well-being.
In response, Leslie Fields, Chief Federal Officer at WE ACT for Environmental Justice shared:
“The National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) was created with the bipartisan goal to make sure that the environmental, social, and economic effects of government projects are fully considered, and that everyone has an opportunity to participate in decision-making. NEPA is the law that empowers our communities to protect ourselves and the environment we depend on to live from deadly damage. NEPA supports the right of our communities to speak out in opposition to harmful projects that use our backyards as dumping grounds. The reality is Black, Brown, and low-income people experience disproportionate exposure in their neighborhoods from multiple polluting facilities leading to dirty air, undrinkable water, and poison in our soil. It has given our families cancer, heart diseases, asthma, and premature death for generations. The recent addition of our recommendations for addressing this by looking at the impacts of environmental racism, climate change, and cumulative effects in agency guidance is not only long overdue, but smart policy and necessary. It will save money, protect lives, and produce better projects that have public support because the communities impacted are informed and involved.
“The recent rule by the Trump administration willfully ignores the shameful reality of environmental racism, and instead makes sure that environmental justice impacts and cumulative effects will not be addressed. This rule will not improve processes but will instead make project plans not standardized and reviews intentionally chaotic. It will remove your right to know about and be involved in decisions for projects that will impact your life. With a very short window for public comment, it is clear that the Trump administration does not care how much this will hurt people, or how it removes our human rights to clean air, water, and land. The Trump administration’s decision to gut NEPA raises the scale and scope of their intent to harm by putting prejudice, self-interest, and polluter profits over the health and safety of people, and our shared environment.”
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WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan-based, membership-driven organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents are meaningfully included in the development of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at weact.org and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, Twitter/X, and Instagram.