At least five departments of the federal government; six sub-agencies within those department; and three branches of the military, and a military sub-agency have rescinded, partially rescinded, or revised their implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to assess the potential impact of major federal actions on the human and natural environment, including the potential impact on water and wastewater infrastructure projects.

In late June 2025 and early July the Departments of Agriculture; Defense; Energy; Interior; and Transportation posted interim final rules on the Federal Register rescinding or partially rescinding NEPA implementation.

In addition, the Economic Development Administration; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; the Federal Highway Administration; the Federal Railroad Administration; the Federal Transit Administration; and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also posted notices rescinding, partially rescinding, or revising their implementation of NEPA.

Those sub-agencies were joined by the Departments of the Air Force; the Army, the Navy and the Army Corps of Engineers in posting notices announcing they have rescinded, partially rescinded, or revised implementation of NEPA.

Enacted on Jan. 1, 1970, NEPA requires agencies to evaluate the environmental and related social and economic effects of their proposed actions and those agencies are also required to provide opportunities for public review and comment on those evaluations, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is required to ensure agency compliance of water and wastewater infrastructure projects funded under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014.

The majority of the five departments, agencies and military’s final rules became effective on July 3, 2025, with the rules issued by three agencies becoming effective on April 11, 2025; July 1, 2025; and Aug. 18, 2025, and most agencies accepted comments on the rules until Aug. 4, 2025.

As of press time, no comments were filled on departments and agencies rescinding, partially rescinding, or revising implementation of NEPA when related to water and wastewater infrastructure issues despite NEPA impacting water issues. However, water industry insiders told The Driller NEPA is a “double edged sword for the water sector” in which major construction projects are being delayed because of the NEPA process, and the costs of the delays are ultimately paid by ratepayers.

Furthermore, water industry insiders stressed the other side of the “double edged sword” is that “NEPA provides very important protections for source water.” As a result “the water sector would like a NEPA process that is appropriate, identifies environmental risks and deals with them as intended by the law and is not used as a way to stop development and construction programs” that will benefit communities and provide them with safe drinking water or clean water, according to water sector officials who add there is evidence to support the argument “that NEPA is being weaponized” to stop such development and construction “from going forward.”

However, Tom Dobbins, CEO of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), said while the AMWA does not have a specific position that NEPA has been weaponized, “nor do I have the personal expertise to be able to say that NEPA has been weaponized,” that accusation has been made in a lot of different areas, and obviously that’s the driver for policies that are coming from the Trump administration.

However, the water sector still needs processes to protect source water, because the more contaminated source water is, the more that rate payers have to pay to clean it up and make it so it is safe for them to drink, Dobbins said. However, “that has to be done appropriately, with an expedited process that does not compromise the quality of the work” of ensuring source water is safe, while not delaying development projects that are going to be “overall beneficial” for consumers.