Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Were Fast. It Could Get Messy in Court.
“By going back to the drawing board, even if the idea is to benefit economies
of states, it’s just injecting more delay and uncertainty into the picture.”
On other moves, Mr. Zinke may have bypassed requirements of the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act, which requires
that federal-agency decisions that could have an environmental impact on the nation’s air, water, or pristine wildlife habitats must include a scientific analysis detailing the effects.
“If the previous action by the Obama administration was made based on findings of fact,” he said, then reversing
it “will have to be justified by saying, ‘those facts are no longer true.’ And that will be difficult to do.”
Experts say that Mr. Trump’s efforts to roll back protections on national monuments could hit legal roadblocks as well.
WASHINGTON — As the head of the federal agency controlling billions of acres of public lands
and waters, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has spent the past year making bold policy proclamations to advance President Trump’s energy agenda: He would open coastal waters to drilling, shrink national monuments, lift Obama-era fossil fuel regulations and reduce wildlife protections.
Speaking to reporters last week, Mr. Zinke said, “We looked at everything,” adding: “There is no significant issue the Department of Interior
has found environmentally.” Asked for a copy of the findings, Mr. Zinke suggested making a Freedom of Information Act request.
Trump administration policymakers “have the legal right to open up the entire coast to drilling, if they
follow the process,” said David Hayes, the deputy Interior Secretary under the Obama administration.
