On April 23, 2025, the US Department of Interior (DOI) released emergency procedures for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) pursuant to Executive Order 14156, Declaring a National Energy Emergency. Entirely aimed at project developers, the procedures and a recent information session held by DOI on May 7, 2025, provided little reassurance that DOI will consider eligible projects’ effects on historic properties, as the NHPA requires.
The Emergency Procedures Provide No Details Regarding how DOI Will Comply with Federal Law
The emergency procedures do not require identification of historic properties or resolution of adverse effects, although DOI is urging project proponents to ensure that their applications provide all information necessary to facilitate approval of these projects under the Energy Emergency EO. During the May 7 information session, while DOI stressed that applications submitted under the emergency procedures must be robust enough to satisfy the agency’s obligation to “fully comply” with the requirements of the NHPA, NEPA, and other legislation, DOI also provided no information regarding how the agency will determine if an application is complete or how it will request revisions to an application if the application is not considered robust.
In the absence of other critical information, DOI has provided the following guidance:
- DOI has adopted the emergency provisions in the Section 106 regulations “to satisfy compliance with section 106 for those undertakings that respond to the National Energy Emergency.” (As detailed in the webinar we hosted on the Energy Emergency EO, the emergency provisions in the Section 106 regulations do not require identification of historic properties, consultation, assessment of adverse effects, or resolution of adverse effects—only seven days’ notice to SHPOs and THPOs.)
- Project proponents are required to request in writing that they would like their eligible project to be evaluated under the emergency procedures and to state that they will “implement, to the extent prudent and feasible” measures to avoid or minimize effects to historic properties.
- Consistent with the Section 106 regulations, if there is an existing Programmatic Agreement that includes emergency procedures for eligible projects under the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) jurisdiction, BLM will apply those procedures.
- Under the emergency procedures DOI adopted for NEPA compliance, the 14-day turnaround for an environmental assessment and 28-day turnaround for an environmental impact statement starts when the agency approves the project’s eligibility for the emergency procedures.
DOI Denied Stakeholders An Opportunity to Meaningfully Consult on the Impacts of the Emergency Procedures and Placed a Former Oil Lobbyist in Charge of Rubber-Stamping Projects
The emergency procedures have been developed absent any opportunity for stakeholders or preservation experts to weigh in regarding how to meet the requirements of the NHPA. During its May 7 informational meeting, DOI staffers only addressed developers and project proponents who might be interested in using emergency procedures to bypass the typical process for Section 106 compliance. DOI provided no instruction to tribes, consulting parties, affected landowners, or impacted local, state, or federal officials.
DOI has also announced political appointee Carter Boyce (carter_boyce@ios.doi.gov) as the point of contact for questions about the implementation of the Energy Emergency EO. Additionally, DOI has named Acting Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management Adam Suess, a former lobbyist for Sinclair Oil, as the Responsible Official with decision making authority regarding the applicability of the emergency procedures.
Acknowledging the unique rights of federally recognized tribes to receive meaningful consultation on projects and policies that impact them, DOI did recently announce that a June 5th tribal consultation session will include opportunities to consult and comment on the National Energy Emergency declaration. This meeting may be one of the only opportunities to provide comment on the Department’s emergency permitting procedures, and it is closed to the public and to news media.
How can you help?
These minimal procedures do little to allay fears that the “National Energy Emergency” is a pretextual ploy by the administration to declare open season on irreplaceable historic properties, wildlife habitat, water quality, and endangered species to rubber stamp fossil fuel and utilities projects.
We encourage you to:
- Review the alternative procedures for NEPA and the NHPA provided by the Department on April 23rd
- Inform tribal colleagues about the June 5th tribal consultation opportunity and its significance for raising concerns regarding the legality of the emergency procedures
- Sign up for our email distribution list to receive urgent updates.
- Submit notices or calls to action for posting to our community.
- Contact us confidentially on Signal (marionchp.106) or by email (fightback@culturalheritagepartners.com) to alert us to potential cases to defend cultural heritage and to let us know what you are seeing and hearing in your preservation work.