When the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law in 1970, it established the first national framework for protecting our environment. Take action to protect this law today.

NEPA requires that federal agencies assess the potential environmental impacts of proposed actions, and that communities be notified and have a chance to weigh in before a final decision is made. It is one of the most important statutes we have to protect birds, other wildlife, and communities from the dangers of pollution and other environmental harm.

Birds across the nation, from Burrowing Owls to Baltimore Orioles, have benefited from this bedrock law.

Since 1978, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has been tasked with enforcing NEPA implementation across all federal agencies. Just last month, they have proposed a rule to roll back nearly 50 years of regulations that have been issued to implement NEPA.

If this rule goes into effect—and CEQ no longer enforces how NEPA is implemented across federal agencies—birds and the places they need will be harmed. Each individual agency could choose to drastically alter its own NEPA rules, creating confusion and chaos for permitting projects nationwide. The ability for you to give input on government decisions that impact you could be dramatically reduced, while unvetted environmental reviews could be proposed by corporate project sponsors instead of unbiased scientists.

Habitat and public health are at risk of being sacrificed for shortsighted private industry interests.

We cannot afford to lose our bedrock environmental law. Take action now and tell CEQ not to dismantle NEPA regulations. The deadline to comment is March 27.