Interior NEPA rollback shifts procedures to internal handbook, raising tribal consultation concerns

The Interior Department finalized a sweeping rollback of its National Environmental Policy Act regulations, shifting most environmental review procedures out of federal rule and into an internal handbook — a move the agency says will speed energy and mining projects but that tribal leaders warn could weaken consultation and protections for sacred sites.

The final rule, which took effect on Friday, removes most of Interior’s NEPA procedures from the Code of Federal Regulations and places them in a Departmental NEPA Handbook that can be revised without formal rulemaking. The department retains limited regulations covering emergency actions, categorical exclusions and the designation of lead and cooperating agencies.

“For decades, NEPA has been twisted into a weapon to block American energy, infrastructure and conservation projects,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in the announcement. “Under the leadership of President Trump, this administration is fixing that. We are cutting unnecessary bureaucracy, speeding up approvals and putting Americans back to work, while enforcing NEPA as Congress originally intended.”

Interior said those provisions preserve requirements for coordination with tribes, states and local governments and maintain the statute’s core mandate to consider environmental impacts.

Associate Deputy Secretary Karen Budd-Falen said the overhaul marks one of the most consequential permitting reforms in the department’s history.

“This is a decisive step toward fixing a broken permitting system,” Budd-Falen said. “Interior is restoring NEPA to what Congress intended — a procedural law that informs decisions, not a regulatory maze that delays them for years.”

Officials said the changes are expected to reduce delays and costs for projects across public lands, including energy development, critical minerals, grazing, infrastructure, wildfire mitigation, water projects and conservation work. 

The department estimates the reforms will save taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars” over time by reducing paperwork and accelerating reviews. Interior officials said NEPA remains fully in effect and that environmental impacts will continue to be evaluated under the revised framework.

The move drew sharp criticism from environmentalists and conservation agencies across the country. In a statement obtained by The Hill, Jayson O’Neill, spokesperson for advocacy group Save Our Parks, said the rule would “ice” the public out of the decision making process for public lands. 

“Make no mistake, the gutting of America’s bedrock environmental law by Burgum will result in costly lawsuits, more pollution, and less public participation when monied interests and extractive corporations want access to our public resources and public lands,” O’Neill said. 

Speaking to Colorado Public Radio, Center for Biological Diversity Senior Attorney Wendy Park echoed the sentiment. 

“That could mean drilling, mining, logging projects — that cover larger areas of public lands — and we wouldn’t even know about these projects when they’re proposed or in some cases when they’re approved,” Park said. “We should have the right to comment on projects that are happening right in our backyards.”

Tribal nations and tribal organizations raised objections during the rulemaking process, warning that the changes would weaken consultation and reduce protections for cultural resources, sacred places and tribal communities. Those concerns were documented in formal comment letters and public statements submitted as agencies moved to rescind or revise their environmental review procedures.

In August 2025, a coalition of 228 conservation, environmental justice, civil rights and tribal organizations submitted a joint comment letter opposing proposed NEPA changes across multiple federal agencies. According to the letter, published by Earthjustice, the groups said the administration’s approach would “cut the people out of the people’s environmental law” and reduce opportunities for communities to participate in decisions that affect their health, land and water.

By transitioning many of NEPA’s regulations to internal guidance rather than strict law, Interior reduces their enforceability and the public’s ability to comment and provide feedback on NEPA reviews, the letter argues.

“Without this analysis, agencies obscure the broader, long-term consequences of their decisions—consequences that disproportionately harm frontline communities, including Tribal Nations who already face layered harms from historic disinvestment, land dispossession, and ongoing environmental degradation,” the letter reads. “While procedural efficiency is important, it must never come at the expense of Tribal Nations or frontline communities who bear the brunt of environmental degradation and public health burdens.”

The law has played a role in significant tribal challenges to major projects – most famously the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s challenge to the Dakota Access Pipeline. NEPA also served as the basis for theSan Carlos Apache Tribe’s attempt to stop a copper mine at a culturally significant site called Oak Flat, per prior Tribal Business News reporting.