National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations

What it does

The Department of the Interior (Department or DOI) is adopting the interim final rule (IFR) published on July 3, 2025, with minor changes, as final. In the IFR, DOI provided a 30-day comment period for the public to review and make comments. This final rule addresses public comments and adopts as final the IFR, with certain substantive changes as explained herein. The IFR partially rescinded DOI's regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and made necessary targeted updates to those provisions that were not repealed. DOI will henceforth maintain the majority of its NEPA procedures--which apply only to DOI's internal processes--in a Departmental Handbook separate from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

The Interior Department's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What changed in the regulation

1 part of Title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

43 CFR 46

Wording on eCFR: the day before it took effect and from the day it took effect (first part listed).

Compared with

The Interior Department has published 4 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 4 in all of 2025.

Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.

Before this

1 earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 1090-AB18 since Jan. 1, 2025.

• July 3, 2025 Interim final rule, request for comments National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations

What happens next and when

This final rule is effective February 24, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket DOI-2025-0004 on Regulations.gov
• Title 43 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register