Supreme Court is poised to weaken environmental review of infrastructure projects
CNN
The Supreme Court appeared poised Tuesday to significantly weaken the scope of environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects in a case that could hand President-elect Donald Trump an early win on an issue he often hammered on during his first term.
The Supreme Court appeared poised Tuesday to significantly weaken the scope of environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects in a case that could hand President-elect Donald Trump an early win on an issue he often hammered on during his first term. If the court backs the plan to build an 88-mile railway in Utah it would be the latest decision in which the justices have ruled against environmentalists, shutting down regulations in recent years that were intended to protect wetlands, for instance, and reduce air pollution wafting across state lines. Environmental requirements are creating a “juicy litigation target” that allows opponents to stall infrastructure projects, Paul Clement, a veteran Supreme Court lawyer, told the justices. “After all, infrastructure requires investment, and for investors, time is money,” he said. During his first term, Trump raised similar arguments, repeatedly slamming environmental studies required by the National Environmental Policy Act as too cumbersome. The 1970 law, signed by President Richard Nixon, is considered one of the foundational environmental laws formed at the beginning of the modern environmental movement. “These endless delays waste money, keep projects from breaking ground and deny jobs to our nation’s incredible workers. From day one, my administration has made fixing this regulatory nightmare a top priority,” Trump said at the White House in 2020.
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The Supreme Court appeared poised Tuesday to significantly weaken the scope of environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects in a case that could hand President-elect Donald Trump an early win on an issue he often hammered on during his first term.
GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell fell Tuesday, senators told CNN, the latest high-profile incident in a string of health issues for the 82-year-old Kentucky Republican.