By Dan Bacher

The Trump administration’s assault on the nation’s environmental laws continues at an unprecedented pace, with its latest target being the landmark National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.

On Feb. 19, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) eliminated all of the rules that implement NEPA in an effort to “unleash” oil and gas drilling at the same time that the world is heating up from fossil-fuel driven climate change.

“This interim final rule removes the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) from the Code of Federal Regulations,” according to the notice signed by the CEQ Director for NEPA, Jomar Maldonado Vazquez and submitted for publication in the Federal Register.

The rule will become effect 45 days after it is published.

The National Law Review reported on the significance of this notice.

“This action represents the final blow to CEQ’s NEPA regulations, coming in the wake of two recent federal court decisions in the past few months that foreshadowed their impending demise. In light of those court decisions, CEQ is unlikely to issue new regulations, even under a future presidential administration, without express congressional authorization,” the Review wrote.

Earthjustice also condemned the Trump regime’s elimination of the rules that implement NEPA.

“NEPA is the foundational law that protects people and the environment by requiring the federal government to consider and disclose the environmental consequences if its decision,” the organization said in a statement. “NEPA often provides the only opportunity for impacted people to participate in government decision-making that bears directly on their health and prosperity.”

The Trump regime short-circuited public notice and comment and purported to revoke rules that have guided both Republican and Democratic administrations for over 50 years.

Earthjustice pointed out that “CEQ also issued further guidance on how federal agencies should implement NEPA in the absence of longstanding rules.”

Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice, was even more direct in her response.

“This is the latest play to slash and burn safeguards with zero care for the consequences in real life,” Dillen said. “This move won’t improve decision-making or make the government more effective. Tossing out the rules that have been in place for 50 years is a recipe for chaos and gridlock … As intended, eliminating all the NEPA rules will ‘unleash’ oil and gas development under the guise of a fake energy emergency. Much more sweepingly, it endangers the essentials that only our government can reliably protect, including clean air and water.”

The Trump Administration’s decision involves direct stakes for environmental conditions in the river ways of Sacramento, Yolo and San Joaquin counties: The National Environmental Policy Act authorizes NOAA Fisheries to issue mandatory conditions for fish passage, as well as to recommend other protection, mitigation and enhancement measures for fish that migrate between freshwater and saltwater—such as salmon, shad, steelhead, river herring, eel, and sturgeon—and their habitat. So, this rescinding of rules implementing NEPA could have a major impact on already imperiled Sacramento River Fall Chinook, Spring Chinook and Winter Chinook Salmon, Central Valley Steelhead, Green Sturgeon, White Sturgeon and other fish species who live in rivers flowing into the Delta. 

The 2025 Sacramento River Index ocean abundance forecast is only 165,655 Fall Chinook, according to NOAA Fisheries. This low abundance makes it likely that this will be the third year in a row that commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California ocean waters and recreational salmon fishing in Central Valley rivers is closed.

On January 20, President Donald Trump issued the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order that ordered CEQ to propose rescinding NEPA regulations in favor of issuing guidance to federal agencies.

The order stated, “It is thus in the national interest to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources. This will restore American prosperity —- including for those men and women who have been forgotten by our economy in recent years. It will also rebuild our Nation’s economic and military security, which will deliver peace through strength.” 

Conservationists say the irony of Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” mantra is that U.S. crude oil production actually reached record highs under the Biden Administration — and the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) forecasts that U.S. crude oil production will rise to a new high under the second Trump administration.

U.S. crude oil production (million barrels per day) was 12.0 in 2022, 12.9 in 2023 and 13.2  in 2024. The EIR forecasts that there will be a new record high of 13.5 million barrels per day in 2025 under Trump.

In other words, the U.S. has produced more crude oil over the past three years than any other country in history – and this year U.S. oil production under Trump is expected to reach a new record-high in oil production unmatched by any other country as the climate crisis intensifies, as evidenced by the apocalyptic fires in Southern California in January.