“For CEQ (Council on Environmental Quality), it appears advancing a questionable agenda at all costs is more important than ensuring that the law and science and sound economic reasoning are going to be honored,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said during a hearing on September 21, according to TheHill.com.
House Republicans hammered a new Obama administration request for federal agencies to consider climate change impacts in environmental reviews of proposed projects. The guidance, finalized by the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality in August, sets standards for how agencies can incorporate climate change into their permitting evaluations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), according to TheHill.com.
Republicans oppose the change, saying the new guidance will slow down permitting for projects like oil and gas drilling and pipeline construction that already needs to go through NEPA reviews.
