Prof. James Coleman Quoted by E&E News by Politico About How Reduced NEPA Reviews Could Help Challenges in Court

Professor James Coleman was quoted by E&E News by Politico about the administration’s move to cut environmental reviews down to a month or less which could push it into murky legal ground and even hand environmental groups more ammunition to challenge federal approvals of mines and fossil fuel projects in court. The Interior Department unveiled a plan Wednesday to reduce the length of reviews for some coal and hardrock mines, oil and gas drilling, geothermal development and biofuel projects on public land — while excluding wind and solar energy — from a year or more to a maximum of 28 days. But by reducing the length of reviews, it could make it easier for environmental groups and tribes mounting legal challenges, experts said. Prof. Coleman said the Trump administration’s decision to apply emergency procedures nationwide is unprecedented in scope, and while Interior’s strategy appears to be aimed at flooding the zone to push projects through, plenty of judges interpreting the law signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970 aren’t going to have an appetite for curbing NEPA so drastically. He said, “It’s going to be tested in the courts, and I expect that lots of courts are going to strike down actions just given the unprecedented scope. It’s [already] a little bit of a crap shoot, of Russian roulette with the courts, it’s uncertain whether your project will get through.”