Today, Ranking Republican Rob Bishop (R-Utah) released the following statement on the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) final rule to comprehensively update and modernize National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations for the first time in over 40 years:

“Every administration for the past half a century has tried to untangle the mess Congress created by writing NEPA in the way it did. The House and Senate were smoking something when they enacted the obscure and flowery text of that 1965 law, and since then the courts, bureaucrats, and now special interest groups have spent unfathomable resources defining it for them. That’s not the way our form of government is supposed to work. Enacted with noble intent to expand public input and enhance environmentally conscious decisions, NEPA has morphed into a tool for excessive litigation to slow or block economic activity, including crucial projects to support clean water, affordable energy, and essential infrastructure. Today, the President and his administration made good on another promise to the American people. With this rule, we will have a modern environmental review process and greater regulatory certainty. Work in Congress remains to build upon and reinforce the critical work enshrined in this rule.”