The Supreme Court Gives Permission to Build Under NEPA

The Justices issue a unanimous ruling against 3,600-page environmental reviews and endless litigation

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act. But NEPA is supposed to let federal regulators “weigh environmental consequences as the agency reasonably sees fit,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh writes for the Court in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County. “NEPA is a procedural cross-check, not a substantive roadblock. The goal of the law is to inform agency decisionmaking, not to paralyze it.”"

"The federal Surface Transportation Board approved the rail line in 2021, after a lengthy environmental review"

"“The central principle of judicial review in NEPA cases is deference,” Justice Kavanaugh says. “Under NEPA, an agency’s only obligation is to prepare an adequate report.” The regulators overseeing the proposed project, he adds, are “better equipped to assess what facts are relevant to the agency’s own decision than a court is.”"

"nothing in NEPA requires the Surface Transportation Board to study “upstream or downstream projects separate in time or place from the 88-mile railroad line’s construction and operation.”"

"agencies don’t need to “analyze the effects of projects over which they do not exercise regulatory authority.”"

"the Utah rail review was 3,600 pages"