Analysis: CEQueuing up to change NEPA

The President's Council on Environmental Quality is overdue to publish recommendations on the way the Bush administration should handle the National Environmental Policy Act, an effort that is eagerly awaited by the regulated community but viewed by conservationists with some justified concern.
In May 2002, CEQ established a task force "to review the current NEPA implementing practices and procedures" in a number of areas, including information management, level of detail of analysis, interagency cooperation and others.
The council's recommendations were supposed to be completed this summer, but the deadline has slipped. CEQ declined to comment either on when the recommendations will be released, or on what they will contain, saying only the agency supports NEPA, one of the cornerstones of U.S. environmental protection, which was enacted in 1970 and signed by President Richard Nixon...