The Trump administration’s plan to curb how federal agencies weigh climate change effects on major infrastructure projects could end up sharply increasing the financial burden for taxpayers who foot the bill for major disasters.
Right now, national infrastructure projects must carefully consider their eco-implications. But the Trump administration would change the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to make it easier to get those deals built and without considering the “cumulative impact” — code for climate change.
The Trump administration’s plan to curb how federal agencies weigh climate change effects on major infrastructure projects could end up sharply increasing the financial burden for taxpayers who foot the bill for major disasters.
The Trump administration will soon make it easier for projects like oil pipelines and highways to get federal approval regardless of their environmental risks and effects on climate change, according to the New York Times. The administration is expected to gut the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act by making more projects exempt from the environmental reviews it requires, and by stripping requirements for federal agencies to consider “cumulative” impacts such as contributions to climate change.
The Trump administration will propose this week to gut National Environmental Policy Act rules for conducting environmental reviews of federal activities — changes that will threaten critical safeguards for air, water and wildlife. The proposal will also squelch public participation in federal agency decisions and impose arbitrary time limits on completion of environmental reviews.