CEQ Releases Guidance to Streamline NEPA Reviews

Federal permitting reforms are driving unprecedented results under President Trump.

Today, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released its updated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementation guidance and associated agency implementing procedures template.

Major infrastructure projects in the United States often take longer to receive Federal permits than to build, highlighting a failure in our system that stalls economic growth and hinders American competitiveness. That is why President Trump came into office with a promise to fix a broken permitting system - a promise that he has delivered on with speed and efficiency.

Consistent with President Trump's day-one Unleashing American Energy Executive Order, the guidance provides clarity to Federal agencies establishing or revising their agency-specific NEPA implementing procedures - in order to expedite and simplify the permitting process.

The guidance updates and replaces guidance issued in February, building upon 2023 and 2025 amendments to NEPA passed by the United States Congress, and accounts for the United States Supreme Court's recent landmark decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County.

"There's been a consensus across all three branches of government that we need permitting reform. Now, at the direction of President Trump, Federal agencies have a clear and consistent roadmap to get us there," said Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Katherine Scarlett. "I am proud of the work that has been accomplished in this Administration to streamline the Federal environmental review and permitting process. We have seen tremendous progress across Federal agencies, and this guidance will continue this Administration's momentum toward the greatest permitting reform ever to take place in the 55-year history of NEPA."

Under President Trump's leadership, Federal agencies have begun delivering results by modernizing their agency-specific NEPA procedures, most of which had never been updated since NEPA became law more than five decades ago. On June 30, 2025, the first tranche of Federal agencies updated their NEPA implementing procedures in consultation with CEQ, delivering historic reforms in record time. Those updates brought the agencies' NEPA procedures in line with the President's policies, the statute as amended by Congress, and the Supreme Court's ruling.

Through interagency working groups and regular consultation meetings, CEQ continues to work with other Federal agencies for consistency as they establish or revise their respective NEPA implementing procedures. This historic effort to restore common-sense to NEPA will unleash American energy dominance and strengthen American leadership across critical sectors.

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