Comments RE: Update to the Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Comments RE: Update to the Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) submits the following comments regarding CEQ’s Proposed Revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations (85 Federal Register 1684).

Since NEPA’s enactment, the scope of its requirements and application have grown considerably and place a heavy burden on independent oil and natural gas producers operating on federal lands. While the lat itself remains unchanged over the past 50 years, and the regulations remained virtually untouched for the past 40 years, the courts, Presidential directives and agencies’ implementation of the regulations have made NEPA unworkable and far more complicated than the original intent of the law. Modernizing NEPA will help reduced needless delays that hinder American oil and natural gas projects and badly needed infrastructure initiatives across the nation.

CEQ’s proposed changes make critically needed revisions to NEPA’s implementing regulations. These common-sense revisions are long overdue and vitally important…