Timeline
Oct. 15, 2008 DOI issued a final rule, effective Nov. 14, 2008, to amend its NEPA implementing regulations.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
BLM does not have its own NEPA regulations, but the agency’s NEPA procedures are established under DOI’s Departmental Manual.
Biden Administration
Jan. 17, 2025 BLM proposed to add a new categorical exclusion for geothermal resource exploration operations.
Oct. 24, 2024 BLM updated its NEPA implementing procedures, removing four categorical exclusions and adding two created by Congress under the FRA.
Trump Administration I
Dec. 10, 2020 BLM finalized two categorical exclusions: one for projects under 10,000 acres designed to remove pinyon pine and western juniper trees that threaten sagebrush habitat and another for harvesting of dead or dying trees, on 3,000 acres of BLM land or less.
June 12, 2018 BLM issued Permanent Instruction Memorandum PIM 2018-014 to streamline the NEPA process for applications for directional drilling into federal minerals from non-federal surfaces.