NEPA: removal of CEQ regulations and rollback of agency environmental review procedures (2025-2026)

NEPA: removal of CEQ regulations and rollback of agency environmental review procedures (2025-2026)

Case

In February 2025 the Council on Environmental Quality removed its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, which had guided federal environmental reviews since 1978, and in 2025-2026 the Energy, Interior, Agriculture and other departments and the Army Corps rescinded or rewrote their own NEPA procedures. In June 2026 CEQ withdrew its remaining guidance documents as obsolete. The administration says it is carrying out executive orders on energy and deregulation.

CEQ removes its NEPA regulations
On Feb. 25, 2025 the Council on Environmental Quality issued an interim final rule removing its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (90 FR 10610). It acted in response to Executive Order 14154, "Unleashing American Energy," which rescinded Executive Order 11991 and directed CEQ to propose rescinding the regulations.
CEQ said it may lack authority to issue binding NEPA rules for agencies without Executive Order 11991, which it cited as its authority when it first issued the regulations in 1978.
A later CEQ document with the same title, published Jan. 8, 2026 (91 FR 618), is cited by CEQ alongside the February 2025 rule as the removal of its regulations.

Agencies rewrite their own procedures
On July 3, 2025 the Energy Department issued an interim final rule removing its existing NEPA implementing regulations.
The same day the Interior Department partially rescinded and updated its NEPA regulations in an interim final rule, saying the Supreme Court had recently clarified NEPA is a "purely procedural statute."
The Army Corps of Engineers issued interim final rules removing its NEPA implementing regulations for permit review and replacing them with a new regulation.
On April 3, 2026 the Agriculture Department adopted its July 2025 interim final rule as final, with minor changes. The rule revised the department's NEPA regulations and removed various agency regulations.

Guidance withdrawn (June 2026) and what is not established
On June 29, 2026 CEQ withdrew a set of guidance documents, saying many were obsolete or unaligned with current law and administration policy after its regulations were rescinded, Congress amended NEPA, executive orders were revoked and court decisions intervened. Copies stay on CEQ's website marked withdrawn, and CEQ will review whether to update and reissue them.
The sources reviewed are Federal Register notices stating the agencies' own positions. They contain no statements from critics, industry or courts, and do not measure the effect on the length or outcomes of environmental reviews.

Perspectives

Official position — Council on Environmental Quality and implementing agencies
CEQ says it removed its regulations in response to Executive Order 14154, that it may lack authority to issue binding NEPA rules without the rescinded order, and that its remaining guidance is obsolete. The Interior Department says the Supreme Court recently clarified NEPA is a purely procedural statute.

Editorial read — The Author (site author)
The Author's view is that removing the common rules for environmental review lets each agency decide how closely to examine its own projects. This is interpretation. The sources reviewed are Federal Register notices stating the agencies' reasons, and contain no critic, industry or court statements and no measurement of effects on project reviews.

Research notes
Open leads: (1) reactions from environmental groups, industry and agencies; (2) litigation over the removal; (3) Congress's amendments to NEPA, which CEQ cites but this entry does not summarize; (4) the Forest Service's project-level objection process, which the Washington Examiner mentions as a further step on Oct. 9, 2026; (5) all points rest on Federal Register notices, which state the agencies' own positions.

Note
CEQ says it may lack authority to issue binding NEPA rules once the executive order that authorized them was rescinded, and that its guidance is obsolete. The sources reviewed contain no critic, industry or court statements, so the effects on environmental review and any litigation are open leads.

Sources
[1] Federal Register: Removal of National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations (CEQ interim final rule) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/02/25/2025-03014/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations) · 2025-02-25
[2] Federal Register: Removal of National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations (CEQ, Jan. 8, 2026) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/08/2026-00178/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations) · 2026-01-08
[3] Federal Register: Department of Energy, Revision of National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Procedures (interim final rule) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/03/2025-12383/revision-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-procedures) · 2025-07-03
[4] Federal Register: Department of the Interior, National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations (interim final rule) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/03/2025-12433/national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations) · 2025-07-03
[5] Federal Register: Army Corps of Engineers, Procedures for Implementing NEPA; Processing of Department of the Army Permits (interim final rule) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/03/2025-12360/procedures-for-implementing-nepa-processing-of-department-of-the-army-permits) · 2025-07-03
[6] Federal Register: Department of Agriculture, National Environmental Policy Act (final rule) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/03/2026-06537/national-environmental-policy-act) · 2026-04-03
[7] Federal Register: CEQ, Notification of Withdrawal of Guidance Documents (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/29/2026-13079/notification-of-withdrawal-of-guidance-documents) · 2026-06-29

Connections

Same context — Environmental deregulation under EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
Part of the second-term rollback of environmental rules under the energy and deregulation executive orders.

Related — Rescinding the Roadless Rule: ending national road and logging limits on 44.7 million acres of national forest (2025-2026)
USDA's NEPA procedures and the Roadless Rule rescission are both part of the Agriculture Department's rollback of environmental constraints on national forests.