GreenLatinos warns that CEQ’s 2025 rule has opened the door to weakened protections and community exclusion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 07/10/25
MEDIA CONTACT: Edder Díaz Martínez, Communications Manager, 602-832-6039, [email protected]
WASHINGTON— In February 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued an Interim Final Rule that rescinded longstanding NEPA regulations, giving federal agencies broad discretion to create their own environmental review procedures. The rule has sparked concern across environmental justice and public interest communities for removing key protections, including requirements for public participation, cumulative impact analysis, and environmental justice review. (GreenLatinos response)
Agencies are now releasing their own NEPA proposals, creating a confusing and inconsistent system that risks undermining the rights of frontline communities.
In response, GreenLatinos Irene Burga, Climate Justice and Clean Air Director, GreenLatinos:
"Federal agencies are moving forward with fragmented and inconsistent NEPA procedures that could leave communities with weaker safeguards, limited transparency, and fewer opportunities to participate in decisions that directly affect their health and environment. This decentralized approach is a direct result of CEQ’s flawed rule and opens the door to permitting projects without strong environmental review or meaningful accountability. NEPA is one of the few tools that gives frontline communities a voice in how and where infrastructure is developed. Weakening or siloing that process across agencies threatens the very foundation of environmental justice.”
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Acerca de GreenLatinos
VerdeLatinos (NOTA: GreenLatinos es UNA PALABRA) es una comunidad activa de líderes latinos, envalentonados por el poder y la sabiduría de nuestra cultura, unidos para exigir equidad y desmantelar el racismo, con recursos para ganar nuestras batallas ambientales, de conservación y de justicia climática, y motivados para asegurar nuestras políticas, Liberación económica, cultural y ambiental.
