Court ruling against regulator power in environmental assessments wins praise from CEI

Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on an important case concerning the authority of federal regulators to prescribe the content of environmental impact statements, government documents that outline the environmental impact of a proposed project in a geographic area. Competitive Enterprise Institute attorney David S. McFadden praised the ruling:

“CEI welcomes the clear-eyed opinion the D.C. Circuit issued today in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration. The court recognized that nowhere in the National Environmental Policy Act is the Council on Environmental Quality authorized to prescribe the content of environmental impact statements, as it has been doing since 1978. CEI argued that very position in an amicus brief it submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in the pending case of Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado. It is our hope that the Supreme Court as well as the judiciary and agencies of the United States will increasingly understand that power is granted by law and not acquired by prescriptive right.”