On July 7, 2026, EPA proposed a comprehensive rule to amend the agency’s regulations implementing NEPA. The proposal incorporated recent executive orders and CEQ guidance to narrow NEPA review. For example:
- Proposed revision of the definition of “effects”: NRC proposed the definition of “effects” to “focus on those radiological effects that the NRC has the substantive statutory authority to regulate.” Proposed effects include “radiological impacts and, in some cases, the impact of chemical hazards of radiological materials” but not “dust, noise, non-radiological water and air quality impacts” which the agency does not have authority to mitigate.
- NEPA applicability: The rule proposed that NEPA would not apply when the action does not result in final agency action under the APA, when the action is nondiscretionary because Congress directed the agency action, or when the agency action is not a “major Federal action.” The NRC proposed to include examples of non-major actions including “actions initiating or relating to administrative or judicial civil or criminal enforcement actions or proceedings.”
- Alternative analysis: The rule proposed to “limit the alternative analysis to avoid analysis of forms of generation outside the NRC’s regulatory and licensing authority.” The proposal further clarified that “in most cases, the reasonable range of alternatives to the NRC regulatory or licensing decision would be defined as and limited to the no-action alternative.”
- Obligation to complete EISs: The rule also proposed to revise the requirements for when the NRC must complete an EIS–proposing to remove the list of specific agency actions that require an EIS and “provid[ing] greater flexibility to consider and implement streamlined environmental review approaches, where appropriate.”
- Categorical exclusions: The proposed rule added categorical exclusions, streamlined the process to adopt categorical exclusions established by other federal agencies, and allowed parties to suggest new categorical exclusions. It also proposed to establish categorical exclusions via public notice instead of the rulemaking process, so categorical exclusions would be published on NRC’s website and incorporated into rulemaking at “appropriate intervals.”
- Environmental Justice: NRC proposed to remove Environmental Justice references from its regulations.