The NRC recently withdrew its Policy Statement on the Treatment of Environmental Justice (EJ) Matters in NRC Regulatory and Licensing Actions (EJ Policy Statement). The NRC did so in response to Executive Order (EO) 14173, signed by President Donald Trump on January 21, 2025, which aims to eliminate considerations of race, ethnicity, and diversity from federal government operations. EO 14173 formally withdrew several previous EOs that addressed EJ issues over the past three decades.
Evolution of NRC EJ Policy
In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued EO 12898, which directed all federal agencies to “make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing disproportionally high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies and activities on minority … and low-income populations.”
For independent agencies, such as the NRC, compliance with EO 12898 was optional. The NRC developed its EJ Policy Statement in response, which it finalized in 2004. Notably, the NRC did not adopt a “full” EJ policy as contemplated for executive branch agencies in EO 12898. Instead, the NRC opted to consider EJ issues as part of its environmental review process and only to the extent necessary to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The NRC would thus identify and look for ways to mitigate effects on low-income and minority communities as it developed a site-specific environmental assessment or environmental impact statement for licensing actions. However, the agency expressly declined to adopt a policy directing a “broad-ranging inquiry into allegations of racial discrimination.”
In 2021, President Joseph Biden issued EOs 13985, 13990, and 14008. These orders called for, among other things, closer scrutiny of EJ and equity issues, the use of data other than census data to identify EJ communities, and the evaluation of environmental racism in government decisions. In response, the NRC staff developed a policy paper (SECY-22-0025) presenting a “systematic review” of the agency’s EJ-related programs, policies, and activities, with recommendations to enhance or update those considerations. We discussed both the development and the release of these recommendations in prior blog posts.
More recently, President Trump campaigned on ending any federal program that sought to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and signed EO 14173 for that purpose. EO 14173 specifically revoked President Clinton’s and President Biden’s EJ EOs, and it also directed all agencies to “terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements.” The NRC withdrew its EJ Policy Statement in response to this instruction. After the issuance of EO 14173, the NRC staff also asked that its “systematic review” paper and corresponding recommendations (SECY-22-0025) be returned without action.
Impact on Future NRC Licensing Actions
The rescission of the EJ EOs, and the NRC’s corollary withdrawal of its EJ Policy Statement means that, for now, the NRC is no longer obligated to consider EJ in its NEPA reviews. Indeed, in approving the withdrawal of its EJ Policy Statement (COMSECY-25-0007), the Commission directed the NRC staff “to refrain from explicitly addressing EJ” in future NEPA reviews. This could result in some cost savings for applicants, which will no longer be required to undertake EJ-specific socioeconomic studies to develop licensing applications (and will not need to pay hourly fees for the NRC to review such information). That said, we doubt this policy shift will lead to shorter NEPA reviews. Historically, EJ reviews have rarely been the long pole in the tent for NRC licensing decisions.
Furthermore, applicants should be mindful that this posture could change with future administrations. As an independent agency, the NRC has traditionally been somewhat insulated from government-wide policy shifts on EJ matters, providing a degree of regulatory stability. However, because EO 14173 departed from that historical practice, future administrations may be more inclined to do the same. We will continue to monitor developments in this area.