On September 29, 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”), a federal agency within the Office of the President, issued a 10-page memorandum directed to federal department and agency heads, providing guidance on implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, (“NEPA”; 42. U.S.C. § 4321 et seq), the federal counterpart of CEQA. That guidance, which can be found here, includes an overview of NEPA and its recent amendments, stressing – in line with recent U.S. Supreme Court authority – its nature as a “purely procedural” statute, and “provid[ing] guidance for federal agencies to use when establishing or revising their agency-specific NEPA implementing procedures.” It was accompanied by a 23-page template to assist agencies in that endeavor.
While the linked guidance is a short read for interested counsel and stakeholders, some of its highlights include:
- Emphasizing that “NEPA is a purely procedural statute; it does not mandate particular results or substantive outcomes. NEPA’s purpose is not to generate paperwork for its own sake or litigation, but to provide for informed decision-making and foster excellent action.” (Memo, p. 2.)
- Tracing NEPA’s requirement for agency-specific implementing procedures to be developed in consultation with CEQ, and the history of various regulatory amendments and relevant Executive Orders leading to the 2025 rescission of CEQ’s implementing regulations and shifting of its regulatory focus to the development of agency-specific implementing procedures to be promulgated in consultation with CEQ. (Memo, pp. 2-3.)
- Discussing the 2023 and 2025 statutory amendments to NEPA aimed at “provid[ing] a more efficient and predictable process for all types of actions and projects” and “allow[ing] project sponsors to pay a fee to obtain shortened NEPA review deadlines,” respectively. (Memo, pp. 4-5.)
- Discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court’s “landmark decision” in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado (2025) ___ U.S. ___, 145 S. Ct. 1497, which issued a “course correction” decrying, addressing and rectifying the improper “transform[ation]” of NEPA from “a modest procedural requirement” into a “significant roadblock” paralyzing agency decisionmaking. (Memo, pp. 5-6.) Per the CEQ guidance: “With this Supreme Court decision, NEPA implementation reform has now been called for, authorized, and directed by all three branches of government at the highest possible level: Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court.” (Id., p. 6.)
- The guidance further states that “[it] and the accompanying template reflect the course correction that the Court has set” and cites to various portions of the high Court’s opinion placing legal limitations on the subjects and scope of agency NEPA reviews. (Memo, p. 6.)
- Finally, the guidance lays out the required process for agencies establishing or revising their NEPA implementing procedures consistent with relevant Executive Orders, the recent statutory amendments, and case law. (Memo, pp. 6-10.)
As with CEQA, NEPA is undergoing its own period of reform. The new CEQ guidance and its focus on providing more predictability and streamlined NEPA procedures should be welcomed by developers of projects requiring federal agency funding or approvals implicating the application of NEPA.
Questions? Please contact Arthur F. Coon of Miller Starr Regalia. Miller Starr Regalia has had a well-established reputation as a leading real estate law firm for more than sixty years. For nearly all that time, the firm also has written Miller & Starr, California Real Estate 4th, a 12-volume treatise on California real estate law. “The Book” is the most widely used and judicially recognized real estate treatise in California and is cited by practicing attorneys and courts throughout the state. The firm has expertise in all real property matters, including full-service litigation and dispute resolution services, transactions, acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, financing, common interest development, construction, management, eminent domain and inverse condemnation, title insurance, environmental law and land use. For more information, visit www.msrlegal.com