On July 24, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) gave the public more time to comment on new guidance related to how federal agencies should address greenhouse gas emissions. The guidance tells agencies to focus on the reasonably foreseeable environmental consequences of major actions. It also tells agencies that they do not have to weigh the monetary costs and benefits of proposed actions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

 

The CEQ published the draft guidance in the Federal Register on June 26 and originally scheduled a month for public feedback. After a request to extend the comment period, CEQ published a notice moving the deadline to August 26, 2019.

 

The CEQ guidance will replace 2016 guidance about greenhouse gas emissions. The 2016 guidance was withdrawn following President Trump’s Executive Order 13783, which directed federal agencies to review all rules related to domestic energy development and to remove any that imposed significant economic costs.

 

The NEPA established the CEQ inside the Executive Office of the President to coordinate agency actions that affect environmental quality and to make sure agencies comply with NEPA requirements. The NEPA requires agencies to consider the environmental consequences of proposed actions and to tell the public about how the agency makes decisions.

 

Guidance is a term in administrative law used to describe documents created by administrative agencies to explain rules, laws, and procedures. Guidance documents affect how agencies administer regulations and programs. However, they are not supposed to be legally binding in the same way as rules issued through the rulemaking processes of the Administrative Procedure Act.