Defenders of Wildlife Speaks Out Against Trump Administration’s Efforts to Undercut NEPA During Public Hearing and Rally in D.C.

On February 25, Former Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark will provide testimony at a public hearing on the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposals to revise key regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Following the public hearing, Ms. Clark will speak at a public rally organized by the environmental community about the “deeply concerning” administration attacks on NEPA.  

Released earlier in the year, CEQ’s proposed regulations would eviscerate the current NEPA regulations in order to promote rapid development of infrastructure and domestic energy projects. In addition, the proposal removes the consideration of cumulative impacts, expedites short-sighted approvals for major federal projects, undermines public involvement and allows federal agencies to ignore the long-term effects of green-house gas emissions from coal, gas and oil production on climate change.  

Former Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark, issued the following statement:  

“When NEPA was signed into law decades ago, the U.S. positioned itself as a global leader in environmental regulation. The Trump administration’s new NEPA proposal threatens to undo this progress and will cripple the agencies in addressing the impacts of climate change on wildlife and communities across our nation,” said Former Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark. “With the world watching, we must push back against this administration’s attack on NEPA and demand that the U.S. lead the global effort to mitigate climate change and address the biodiversity crisis head on.”  

Additional background information and media resources below: 

• On January 10, 2020, the Trump administration proposed new NEPA regulations which, if adopted, would fundamentally alter the purposes and procedures of NEPA in ways that are certain to have damaging effects to wildlife, habitats and communities. 
• On February 25, 2020, Jamie Rappaport Clark, Former president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife spoke to NEPA supporters outside the Department of the Interior following her public testimony. 
• NEPA passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in 1969 and is considered the “Magna Carta” of environmental and government transparency laws in the United States. Its directive that federal agencies take environmental impacts into account in their decision making has been a crucial safeguard for the nation’s environment for over five decades. 
• NEPA recognizes the importance of a healthy environment to our well-being and our economy and lays out a sound set of procedures to ensure the federal government has thought through the consequences of its actions, explored alternative approaches to achieving its objectives and involved the public in its decision-making.  
• Previous statement from Former Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark  
• NEPA background from Defenders of Wildlife’s publication “Reasonably Foreseeable Futures: Climate Change Adaptation and the National Environmental Policy Act”