Greenhouse Gases and NEPA

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) continues to take the lead on providing federal agencies guidance on when and how GHGs should be considered in NEPA documents:

CEQ Background Summary  (for more information go to https://ceq.doe.gov/guidance/ceq_guidance_nepa-ghg.html)

• 1970 Congress enacted NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.
  • Created CEQ to appraise Federal programs and activities in light of  national environmental policy
  • First Annual Report addressed “Man’s Inadvertent Modification of Weather and Climate”
• NEPA is a procedural statute the purpose of which is to ensure informed decision-making by Federal agencies.
  • Requires agencies consider the various environmental impacts of proposed major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.
  • Does not require agencies to take any particular action to mitigate significant environmental impacts of a proposed major Federal action.
• Bush Administration
  • 2008-CEQ circulated for interagency review but never proposed GHG guidance
• Obama Administration
  • 2010-CEQ proposed GHG guidance for public comment
  • 2014-CEQ re-proposed GHG guidance for public comment
  • 2016-CEQ issues GHG guidance
• Trump Administration
  • On March 28, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 13783, “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth,” which directed CEQ to rescind the final guidance issued August 5, 2016.
  • CEQ withdrew this guidance on April 5, 2017 for further consideration.

Status of New GHG Guidance

• On June 21, 2019, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) submitted draft guidance titled “Draft [NEPA] Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas [GHG] Emissions,” to the Federal Register for public notice and comment.
• CEQ’s draft guidance seeks to assist Federal agencies in their consideration of GHG emissions when evaluating proposed major Federal actions in accordance with NEPA, and to facilitate more timely environmental reviews and permitting decisions for infrastructure projects requiring Federal agency approvals.
• CEQ published the draft guidance for a 30-day public comment period that ended July 26th, 2019 and has been extended one month to August 26, 2019.

• Draft Guidance
• Fact Sheet

NASA will update this NEPA page with the final guidance. 

For more information on NASA’s role in understanding GHGs and Climate Change go to:

• Environmental Management Division (EMD), Mission Support Directorate: https://www.nasa.gov/emd/ghg
• Earth Sciences Division (ESD), Science Mission Directorate, NASA HQ: https://climate.nasa.gov/causes