The Biden administration has laid out a roadmap for undoing many of the environmental actions of his predecessor, some of which were approved or enacted within the past six months.
President Joe Biden, hours after he was sworn in Wednesday, to start a process that could lead to amendments or even reversals of many of Donald Trump鈥檚 nearly 200 environmental policy decisions.
The president鈥檚 order pauses implementation of more than 100 policies while they are under review. Many of them directly affect the Pacific Northwest, and some unraveled compromises that took years, even decades, to reach.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna take some time for the agencies to undo all the damage Trump did, but we will see changes here in the Northwest,鈥� said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not guaranteed that Biden鈥檚 going to be a great environmental president, and we need to keep the pressure on.鈥�
Biden also vowed to ensure that the United States .
Western Environmental Law Center Wildlands Program director and staff attorney Susan Jane Brown said the process of a new administration reviewing current policies to make sure they are consistent with their own priorities is normal, but that the president will have to do more than sign executive orders to make changes.
鈥淲hat it will take to rollback the rollback is more process, more rulemaking,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭here are a series of steps that have to take place.鈥�
Brown said that process could take months or even years to finish, but also includes the opportunity for public comment.
One of the major policies under review is the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, which the Trump administration altered last summer. It and shortened the amount of time these evaluations must be under review. It also reduced the opportunities for public input.
Brown said that Oregon has not seen the full impact of these changes yet, but that it鈥檚 only a matter of time.
鈥淚n the meantime we are falling further and further behind on the real work that needs to get done,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just disappointing, it鈥檚 a missed opportunity frankly because we have to focus on fixing rather than building.鈥�
Lawson Fite, the general counsel for the American Forest Resource Council, said he is optimistic that a thorough review of the policies will reaffirm most if not all of the actions under review.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping for a successful Biden administration and want results in Oregon that support our rural communities and that encourage sustainable activities like forestry,鈥� Fite said.
Many of the Trump administration鈥檚 actions on energy sought to expand use and extraction of coal, oil and natural gas.
Notably, the administration scissored out of the Clean Water Act a provision that on fossil fuel projects. It鈥檚 a power that鈥檚 been used locally to and the pipeline and export terminal.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a very important state power that the Trump administration tried to take away,鈥� said VandenHeuvel with Columbia Riverkeeper.
Emissions standards, fuel-efficient vehicle regulations, fossil fuels transport 鈥� all of those and more are on the table for review.
The Trump administration across the Intermountain West. That decision threatens to spoil a deal reached in 2015 to protect the grouse while keeping the bird off the federal endangered species list, but it will be relatively easy to overturn.
Trump also used his final weeks in office to issue a raft of Endangered Species Act decisions that left Northwest wildlife without protections they鈥檝e had for decades.
Populations for the in Washington, Oregon and Northern California and across the West have steadily declined. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said both species warrant more protections, but declined to grant them at the end of last year. Adding to that, the administration in January.
The agency , which conservation organizations have called premature. Gray wolves have regained feeble footholds in many states, but are without significant protection in some.
Each of those decisions faces legal challenges.
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