The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires Federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of proposed major Federal actions prior to making decisions.
The DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures are based on amendments to NEPA made by the Fiscal Responsibility Act in 2023, Executive Orders 14154 and 14301, the rescission by the Council on Environmental Quality of its NEPA implementing regulations, and the May 29, 2025, Supreme Court ruling in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition et al. v. Eagle County, Colorado. These procedures help ensure that DOE decision makers have timely, clear information about the reasonably foreseeable environmental effects of proposed actions and reasonable alternatives.
These procedures recognize that NEPA is a purely procedural statute – it does not dictate DOE’s decision – and that DOE has discretion to determine the issues to be considered consistent with the statute.
For information about the history of DOE NEPA regulations and procedures, see DOE NEPA Program History. For information regarding DOE’s prior rulemaking, see DOE NEPA Rulemaking (2025).