CA Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a coalition of 18 attorneys general in submitting comment letters to the Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and Department of Transportation, strongly urging all federal agencies to refrain from moving forward with their proposed final rules that rescind regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The rules, which take effect immediately, largely eliminate the agencies’ existing NEPA regulations and replace them with a patchwork of “non-binding” procedures. The coalition argues that these rules will create significant environmental harm to communities nationwide, reduce public participation, and lead to less-informed environmental decisions. The coalition also argues that the rules are illegal and violate the Administrative Procedure Act and will lead to violations of NEPA. “For over 50 years, NEPA has served as the cornerstone of environmental oversight, ensuring that communities have a voice in major projects that affect their air, water, land, and livelihoods. The rollback of these regulations undermine transparency, weaken environmental safeguards, and silence the very communities – often low-income, rural, and indigenous – that NEPA was designed to protect. Alongside attorneys general nationwide, we will not stand by as the federal government continues to strip away environmental protections and urge all federal agencies to halt this unlawful recission of NEPA regulations immediately." – AG Bonta