Marcella Burke was quoted extensively in Bloomberg Law’s coverage of President Trump’s executive order directing the Council on Environmental Quality to eliminate federal permitting rules, a move designed to dramatically accelerate the environmental review process.

The article examines President Trump’s executive order directing the CEQ to rescind permitting regulations, an action long sought by Republicans to accelerate project approvals.

Burke explained that the order aims to reduce permitting timelines “from seven years to maybe six months,” with agencies still producing environmental assessments and impact statements but in a “much more skeletal” form.

Burke emphasized that this change “turns NEPA into a purely procedural statute.” While legal challenges are certain, she noted that because the president has authority to rescind regulations, litigants would have to find procedural violations in order to prevail.

Her commentary highlighted the seismic implications for environmental law and regulatory compliance if NEPA reviews are pared down as dramatically as the order contemplates.

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