State AGs challenge new rule limiting environmental review

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joined a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s final rule curtailing requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act that federal agencies review and assess the impact of their actions on the environment.

The final rule also limits public participation in the review process, robbing vulnerable communities of the opportunity to make their voices heard on actions that are likely to have adverse environmental and health impacts. In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that the final rule abandons informed decision making, public participation and environmental and public health protections in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and NEPA...

...Nevada was joined by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and Guam, as well as the City of New York, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in filing the lawsuit.

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Ken Notes: As long as this remains a political football we will swing back and forth with no long term policy in place. We need bipartisan legislation and policy that works with business and industry to protect the environment.