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Critical environmental protections have recently come under attack and will continue to be assaulted by the Trump Administration and/or in Congress in coming months. The ClassACT HR73 Environment & Climate Change Working Group has identified two pressing issues where we and our classmates can defend the integrity of science and the laws addressing climate change, biodiversity, and environmental protection. We describe opportunities for concerned individuals to engage. These issues are in flux, so we plan to update this memo periodically.

1. Environmental impact assessment. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a landmark law (1970) that requires federal agencies to consider and disclose to the public the impacts of their proposed actions on the environment. At the direction of President Trump, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has rescinded the longstanding regulations that guide federal agencies in conducting such environmental assessments. CEQ asserts that President Trump’s revocation of a decades-old executive order leaves it without authority to issue binding regulations. Even if that is so, it will be critically important for CEQ to fill the gap left by the rescission of its regulations. CEQ should issue guidance for federal agencies to ensure that agencies conduct thorough and responsible analysis of the environmental impacts of their actions, including cumulative and indirect effects and impacts on communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms, and provide broad opportunities for public involvement. The intent of NEPA must be carried forward. People should submit comments of concern as individuals or as groups to CEQ by March 27, 2025 at the Federal eRulemaking Portal, https://www.regulations.gov/, or by mail to the Council on Environmental Quality, 730 Jackson Place NW, Washington D.C. 20503. All submissions must include the name, “Council on Environmental Quality,” and docket number, CEQ-2025- 0002. Do not submit any private information.

   We anticipate further attacks on the integrity of environmental impact assessments under NEPA by this Administration or in Congress, particularly with regards to federal energy development.

   Additional information on NEPA is on the EarthJustice website.

2. Biodiversity protection and climate change. As part of President Trump’s broad rejection of national and international efforts to address the impact and mitigation of climate change, he has prohibited the U.S. Global Change Research Program (established by Congress in 1990 to coordinate research into the forces driving global change) from publishing and seeking public comment on its nearly completed National Nature Assessment. The purpose of the Nature Assessment is to take stock of U.S. lands, waters, wildlife, and the benefits they provide to our economy, health, climate, and national security and to look ahead at how changes in nature, including climate change, may affect our economy and our lives. The majority of the authors of the report come from outside of government, including academia, non-profit groups, and the private sector. The future of the nearly completed National Nature Assessment through the U.S. Global Change Research Program is uncertain. We therefore advocate the release of this critical report to the public as soon as possible as an independent publication. People concerned about the suppression of sound science regarding climate change by the current administration should write to their members of Congress to urge them to ensure the completion and release of the National Nature Assessment.

We anticipate further attacks on national climate policies and on protections for biodiversity, including particularly attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act, in this Administration or in Congress.

Additional information is in the NYTimes article “Trump Killed a Major Report on Nature. They’re Trying to Publish It Anyway.”

The ClassACT HR73 Environment & Climate Change Working Group hopes regularly to release announcements about these issues and the opportunities for classmates to support scientific integrity and environmental protection. Many environmental organizations are already leading efforts to defend our nation’s air, water, wildlife, and public lands in Congress, in the courts, and in public discourse. Without specifically endorsing all the work of any one organization we urge everyone to directly support these NGOs in any way they can. Among leading advocates on the issues we have flagged here, two have already mounted litigation in specific cases.

EarthJustice is a national public interest law firm that represents environmental groups and communities in challenging governmental actions that violate environmental laws [see https://earthjustice.org/feature/trump-environment-100-day; https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/climate/alaska-lawsuit-trump-offshore-drilling.html].

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a national environmental organization that combines legal and scientific expertise to advocate the protection of the natural environment and of clean air, water, and land. [see https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/climate/agriculture-farmer-website-data-lawsuit.html]

We will be organizing an open meeting soon to discuss these issues and related ones on the environment and climate change. Everyone is invited to attend.

- 10 March 2025