National Environmental Policy Act
Built by the Tribune's code from the Federal Register. No AI wrote this page. Published in the Federal Register April 3, 2026. Document 2026-06537. Updated Nov. 13, 2026.
- What it does
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting the interim final rule (IFR) published on July 3, 2025, with minor changes, as final. The IFR revised departmental regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and removed various USDA agency regulations for implementing NEPA. The IFR was in response to the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) rescission of its NEPA implementing regulations (which USDA's NEPA regulations were designed to supplement), statutory changes to NEPA, executive orders, and case law. In the IFR, USDA 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 Agriculture Department's summary, as published in the Federal Register.
- What changed in the regulation
1 part of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations:
Wording on eCFR: the day before it took effect and from the day it took effect (first part listed).
- Compared with
The Agriculture Department has published 6 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
3 earlier Federal Register documents under regulation identifier 0503-AA86 since Jan. 1, 2025.
- July 21, 2025 Interim final rule; correction. National Environmental Policy Act; Correction
- July 18, 2025 Interim final rule; correction and correcting amendment. National Environmental Policy Act
- July 3, 2025 Interim final rule; request for public comment. National Environmental Policy Act
Since then:
- What happens next and when
This final rule is effective April 3, 2026.
The agency's dates, word for word.
- Check it yourself
The record as published
| Document number | 2026-06537 |
|---|---|
| Action | Final rule. |
| Agencies | Agriculture Department |
| Published | April 3, 2026 |
| Effective date | April 3, 2026 |
| Regulation identifier (RIN) | 0503-AA86 |
| Docket | USDA-2025-0008 |
| Significant (marked in the Federal Register) | Yes |
Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register