Law360 featured Jayni Hein’s commentary in an article about energy and environmental policies to watch in 2026.
Jayni’s thoughts focused on the Trump administration rolling back the National Environmental Policy Act regulations in an effort to speed up approval of large infrastructure projects that need federal approval. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued his "Unleashing American Energy" executive order, which among other things, rescinded a 1977 executive order issued by President Jimmy Carter that instructed the White House Council on Environmental Quality to begin crafting regulations to implement NEPA's aims.
Jayni said that while the full effects of Trump's executive order and the CEQ's subsequent recission of its long-standing NEPA regulations remain to be seen, one immediate effect is the loss of a "common baseline" across agencies, which had been helpful for complex projects requiring cross-agency input. "For decades, CEQ's regulations served as a common blueprint for significant projects with a federal nexus, with CEQ playing the role of symphony conductor," Jayni said. "Of course, there is always room for improvement and simplification. Now, who will carry that mantle? There's a bit of a void with Congress and the agencies each dedicated to somewhat narrower and different goals."
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