Treatment of Greenhouse Gases Under the National Environmental Policy Act

Abstract

Given the absence of comprehensive, economy-wide regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its state-level counterparts have been on the frontline of the climate change fight. Indeed, the issue of when and how project proponents must evaluate (1) a project’s contribution to climate change and (2) the impacts of climate change on a project has been a topic in NEPA litigation for over 20 years and likely will be even more so for the foreseeable future. This pamphlet, therefore, summarizes and analyzes: (1) the manner in which NEPA, state-level environmental review statutes, and then the reviewing courts have grappled with the issue of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, in often inconsistent fashion, and (2) the implications for future project reviews and litigation.

Keywords: NEPA, climate change, greenhouse gases, judicial review, envirionmental impact study, environmental assessment

JEL Classification: K32; K41