In a decision that stunned lawyers across the country, a federal appeals court slashed rules creating much of the environmental directives around power lines, highways, air traffic and infrastructure projects.
In a 2-1 decision, two Republican-appointed judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Council on Environmental Quality — an agency managed by the White House and responsible for most environmental permitting rules — does not have, and never had, the authority to create legally binding regulations for federal agencies.
Environmental attorneys were unprepared for the decision because neither party in the case at hand — which was a dispute between environmental groups and federal agencies over air traffic permitting — made any argument questioning CEQ’s authority. The judges ultimately analyzed and then tossed that authority without being asked.