Administration Must Face Challenge to Environmental Rules Redo

The Trump administration must face litigation over revised rules for environmental reviews after a federal judge in Virginia on Monday rejected the White House’s bid to sideline a legal challenge.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia denied the Council on Environmental Quality’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit from a coalition of conservation groups opposed to the agency’s rewrite of Nixon-era National Environmental Policy Act rules.

• The new NEPA rules tighten the timeline and narrow the scope of environmental reviews for federal actions and project approvals. Wild Virginia, the Congaree Riverkeeper, and other groups sued, saying the ...