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This rulemaking action is being undertaken to examine possible revisions to the Commission's environmental rules to account for recent amendments to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) adopted by Congress in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) and intended to streamline the infrastructure permitting process. In addition, in January, President Trump issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14154 titled Unleashing American Energy, which called upon all agencies to prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives in revising agency regulations implementing NEPA. In light of the changes to the legal landscape and consistent with the objectives of that Executive Order, the Commission seeks comment on how to should revise its rules to streamline the environmental review process and promote efficiency and certainty for Commission applicants to encourage deployment of infrastructure, which in turn will result in more competition and technological innovation in the marketplace. The Commission also seeks comment on whether there are parts of its environmental rules that are now unnecessary or outdated and should be deleted. 

Overall Description of Deadline: The Council on Environmental Quality issued a guidance memorandum on February 19, 2025 advising the heads of federal departments and agencies to complete the revision of their NEPA procedures by February 19, 2026 (within 12 months of the issuance date of the CEQ Guidance Memo). See Implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, Memorandum from Katherine R. Scarlett, Chief of Staff, CEQ, to Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies, (Feb. 19, 2025), available at https://ceq.doe.gov.