Donald Trump announced Thursday, January 9, in the White House, the easing of procedures for impact studies of infrastructure projects. The deletion of " paperwork Is one of his priorities, especially when it comes to ecology. Harnessed since taking office to the dismantling of environmental standards bequeathed by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, the President of the United States is attacking this time a legacy of the Republican President behind the main laws protecting nature , Richard Nixon.
Passed in 1969 by Congress, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can only be changed in depth by the two chambers, but the changes introduced Thursday will notably limit these studies to projects funded by federal funds, which doesn’t This is not the case for infrastructures which concern hydrocarbons such as oil and gas pipelines, which are the source of long legal guerrillas. Another objective outlined by Mary Neumayr, the director of the Council on Environmental Quality, the armed wing created by the NEPA law, is to reduce the time for these studies by half, from four and a half to two.
"This proposal threatens to silence the voices of those whom the government should listen to," the law firm EarthJustice
" This is just the beginning. We won't stop until our new infrastructure makes the United States a nation envied by the worldassured Donald Trump. It was before but we are now like a third world country. " "This law was built on decades of activism by people who wanted to have a say in decisions that affected their health, their lives, their communities and their environment. By paving the way for polluters and eviscerating public participation, this administration is undermining this legacy ", an association of environmental lawyers, EarthJustice, responded in a statement. "This proposal threatens to silence the voices of those whom the government should listen to: those living on the front lines of the climate crisis ", she added.
An attack on the "base"
The weight of the lobbies in this decision is pointed out by the main environmental organizations which are clearly not convinced by the assurances of the administration. " The proposal will not change any substantive environmental laws or regulations ” on air quality, water or the protection of endangered species, assured Mary Neumayr. " Nothing in the proposal will remove the protections that Congress has adopted to protect our environment and the American people ", She added. The elected democrats, in the Senate as in the House, however strongly criticized an attack with " basement " protection of the environment.
