The National Environmental Policy Act

What is NEPA?

NEPA is a key environmental law that provides local communities the ability to weigh in on federally regulated projects that impact their health and safety. It requires federal agencies to engage in a review process to identify any significant environmental, economic, social, or health impacts a project may have before decisions are made and construction begins. It is therefore a critical tool in ensuring that the US is accountable to climate goals and environmental justice commitments.

Everyone deserves to live, work, and play in healthy communities where the air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink. We need laws like NEPA to be strong enough to put people and planet over polluters and corporate greed.

  1. Public Input

    Public input

    Public Input

    Before a project is started, the federal government must ask impacted communities for their input and consider their perspectives.

  2. Informed Decision Making

    Informed decision making

    Informed Decision Making

    NEPA ensures that federal agencies evaluate and inform the public of all essential information and potential alternatives to dirty or dangerous projects.

  3. Transparency

    Transparency

    Transparency

    NEPA requires disclosure of a proposed project's impacts to the surrounding communities before construction begins.

  4. Accountability

    Accountability

    Accountability

    NEPA ensures that citizens have the right to go to court to enforce environmental laws and hold the government accountable when it violates the law.

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Did you know?

Impacting Communities

BIPOC communities are disproportionately impacted by pollution and other environmental risks from dirty projects.

Protecting the Economy

NEPA helps save taxpayer dollars: in one project in California alone, NEPA helped save over $133 million

Fighting Climate Change

NEPA makes our infrastructure more resilient to climate change.

reducing oil spills: how strengthening nepa can help

Reducing Oil Spills: How Strengthening NEPA Can Help

Without critical environmental justice, fossil fuel companies will continue to put profit over people. It's important to learn from past incidents so that environmental laws like NEPA can be strengthened, oil spills can be reduced, and people can be protected.

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