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On April 9, 2026, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued updated guidance for federal agencies on establishing and applying categorical exclusions (CEs), the most commonly used form of review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. The updated guidance replaces CEQ’s 2010 CE guidance and responds to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, 605 U.S. 168 (2025) and CEQ’s repeal of its NEPA implementation procedures early in the Trump administration.

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Tags: CEQ, environmental, GT Insight, NEPA
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Photo of Steven Barringer Steven Barringer

Steven Barringer is a member of GT’s Environmental and Government Law and Policy practice groups. Steve has a unique practice that combines substantive environmental law knowledge with deep government law and policy experience. He began his career as an attorney-adviser and Special Assistant

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Steven Barringer is a member of GT’s Environmental and Government Law and Policy practice groups. Steve has a unique practice that combines substantive environmental law knowledge with deep government law and policy experience. He began his career as an attorney-adviser and Special Assistant to the Solicitor at the Department of Interior. In private practice, Steve has represented industry clients in numerous EPA rulemakings, and defended clients in enforcement actions brought by EPA and states. He has advised companies regarding compliance with federal and state environmental laws. Steve has represented parties involved at major Superfund sites – including several of the largest Superfund sites in the United States – both in remediation settlement negotiations and cost-recovery actions. He has advised clients on international treaty obligations applicable to the transboundary movement of mercury and other hazardous wastes, and has managed local counsel examining environmental laws in Central America and Europe applicable to the transboundary movement of such wastes.

Steve’s broad experience representing environmental clients led to his work on government law and policy matters. He has interacted with federal and state regulators on numerous rule-makings and policy developments. He advises clients regarding federal legislative and agency strategy, including use of the appropriations process to achieve policy goals. Steve served on an EPA advisory committee examining federal hazardous waste regulations, and was selected by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to represent industry stakeholders in negotiations to develop consensus amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. He led an industry group advocating for reform of the federal mining laws. Representing industry clients, Steve has worked together with nongovernmental organizations to secure federal legislation banning the export of mercury from the United States.

Steve has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal as one of the top environmental practitioners representing the mining industry. One client described him as “absolutely the best.” He speaks and publishes on environmental legal and policy topics.

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Photo of Stacey Bosshardt Stacey Bosshardt

With more than two decades of experience, Stacey Bosshardt is a “go to” litigator and strategist for complex environmental, natural resources, and public lands matters, representing mining, transmission, renewable energy, real estate, and governmental clients in high-stakes litigation and regulatory challenges throughout the…

With more than two decades of experience, Stacey Bosshardt is a “go to” litigator and strategist for complex environmental, natural resources, and public lands matters, representing mining, transmission, renewable energy, real estate, and governmental clients in high-stakes litigation and regulatory challenges throughout the country. She is recognized for her courtroom advocacy and her ability to help clients in litigation brought in an emergency posture; she has represented clients in dozens of motions for preliminary injunctive relief and related appellate proceedings. Stacey also advises clients during the permitting process, drawing on her experience defending project decisions in court to create the most favorable record possible in the event a lawsuit is filed.

Stacey’s practice focuses on cases involving major federal environmental statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Clean Water Act, Federal Land Policy Management Act, Mineral Leasing Act, and Administrative Procedure Act. She is a frequent speaker and author on environmental and administrative law topics. Stacey regularly has handled litigation challenging permits, approvals, and plans for transmission lines, renewable energy facilities, pipelines, mining operations, real estate developments and major infrastructure projects. She also represents state transportation agencies.

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Photo of Ed Roggenkamp Ed Roggenkamp

Ed Roggenkamp is an environmental attorney with over a decade of experience resolving complex litigation and regulatory matters. In his litigation practice, Ed uses his skills as a former professional actor and teacher to help his clients in court by crafting a compelling

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Ed Roggenkamp is an environmental attorney with over a decade of experience resolving complex litigation and regulatory matters. In his litigation practice, Ed uses his skills as a former professional actor and teacher to help his clients in court by crafting a compelling story for the judge or jury and explaining complex technical concepts so that they are easy to understand. His litigation practice has included challenges to environmental impact reviews for infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its state equivalents, cases seeking recovery of remediation costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and related state statutes and common-law torts, toxic tort claims, and enforcement actions and citizen suits under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and other environmental statutes. Ed has been lead counsel on CERCLA cases through summary judgment, and has deep experience with all aspects of discovery, including work with expert witnesses, taking and defending depositions, motion practice, and settlement negotiations.

Ed advises project developers and financing parties on siting and permitting requirements for infrastructure and energy projects, including both renewable and traditional electricity generation, and has advised a renewable industry trade association on the application of NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act to offshore wind development. Ed advises clients on the environmental aspects of corporate transactions and project development, such as pre-purchase environmental due diligence (Phase I/Phase II reports), indemnity provisions, representations and warranties relating to environmental matters, brownfield redevelopment, and regulatory compliance. He has advised on numerous transactions involving the energy sector, including power purchase agreements for utility-scale solar, purchases and sales of fossil-fuel-fired power plants, wind farms, and proposed offshore wind developments on the East Coast, and NEPA review and protected species mitigation measures for electric transmission lines. Ed’s extensive litigation experience helps him to advise clients on ways to reduce litigation risk during the siting and permitting phase of project development. His government service includes advising on NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act compliance for clean energy and infrastructure projects, including electric transmission lines, industrial redevelopment projects, and hydroelectric generation incentives.

Ed has worked extensively with technical and scientific experts in both litigation and development work. In the litigation context, this has focused on the remediation of real estate contaminated by historic industrial operations. He has experience with the remediation of chlorinated solvents, metals, petroleum products, and other contaminants of concern, and with the remediation of manufactured gas plants, municipal landfills, petroleum storage sites, mine tailings, and industrial sites in various sectors including automobiles, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and dyes. In the litigation context, this has included both affirmative and defensive work with environmental experts such as engineers and toxicologists, and non-environmental experts such as property appraisers and commercial leasing experts.

Outside of litigation, Ed has experience in NEPA review for electric transmission lines and offshore wind farms, and has also advised on best practices for aligning the environmental impact review process with the requirements of NEPA in order to minimize litigation risk and public opposition. He has also worked alongside environmental engineers to guide the remediation of contaminated real estate, in order to help his clients seeking minimize health risks and remediation costs, avoid liability, comply with state brownfield cleanup program requirements, proactively take steps to increase the likelihood of recovering costs from insurers and other liable parties.

Ed has presented regularly on a wide variety of environmental and energy law issues, and spent several years as the primary editor of the climate change and Clean Air Act section of a legal treatise on environmental enforcement.

Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Ed served as an attorney-advisor for the Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy.

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