(BISMARCK, ND) – North Dakota’s Attorney General is reacting to a District Court’s ruling that invalidates the Biden administration’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
“This decision is great for North Dakota, but also great for economic and infrastructure development around the entire country,” Attorney General Drew Wrigley said. “The last administration’s attempt to weaponize and politicize the entire federal bureaucracy in order to push a partisan agenda was truly astounding.”
The Biden administration, through the rule, looked to change the NEPA review projects for all federal projects, adding considerations like ‘environmental justice’ into the procedural review process.
North Dakota and 20 other states sued the administration last summer in the District of North Dakota, and the court’s decision vacates the rule nationwide.
In his ruling District Court Judge Daniel Traynor said that ‘for the past forty years, all three branches of government operated under the erroneous assumption that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) had authority.’ His ruling further said that if ‘Congress wants CEQ to issue regulations, it needs to go through the formal process and grant CEQ the authority to do so.’
Traynor granted the 21 states’ motion for summary judgement.
