Why It Matters
Tribal opportunities to participate in environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) may now vary by federal agency and project type, after the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) rescinded its government-wide NEPA regulations effective April 2025, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
The shift moves responsibility for tribal comment opportunities from a uniform federal framework to individual agency procedures that may or may not preserve those opportunities.
The Big Picture
Under NEPA, tribes can engage in environmental reviews as a project sponsor, a joint lead agency, or a cooperating agency assisting in developing alternatives and environmental documents. Cooperating agency status may give tribes earlier involvement in a proposed action's development, though the lead agency retains responsibility for the analysis and resulting decisions.
Executive Order 14154 directed CEQ to propose removing its NEPA regulations, and a CEQ final rule adopted the 2025 interim removal as final. The Department of the Interior subsequently published its own NEPA implementing regulations.
Some tribal groups expressed support for the Trump administration's goal of reducing regulatory burdens on tribes, while also urging Congress to restore CEQ's regulatory authority and add tribal consultation requirements to the statute.
The SPEED Act, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR-4), would amend NEPA to direct agencies to presume that taking no action on a tribal proposal negatively affects the tribe; the bill has passed the House, and on Dec. 18, 2025, it was received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Public Law 117-169 appropriated $350 million to the Permitting Council's Environmental Review Improvement Fund, and the council set aside a combined $15 million across 2023 and 2024 to support tribal engagement in environmental reviews for FAST-41-covered infrastructure projects.
The Bottom Line
The SPEED Act awaits Senate action after passing the House in December 2025; S. 5653 was referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Sept. 30, with no further action recorded.
Since CEQ rescinded its government-wide NEPA regulations effective April 2025, tribal opportunities to comment on environmental reviews depend on individual agency procedures, which may or may not include the comment requests those regulations required.
Lawmakers could set more uniform rules for tribal participation, specify how agencies must weigh tribal input, or address capacity constraints that both agencies and tribes say limit meaningful engagement.
Access the Legis1 platform for comprehensive political news, data, and insights
Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article
