National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations

Document 2026-03708 is a Final Rule published by the Department of Interior in the Federal Register on February 24, 2026, with an effective date of February 24, 2026. 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 The IFR partially rescinded DOI's regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and made necessary targeted updates to those provisions that were not repealed.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). View the original at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/02/24/2026-03708/national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations.

No. Document 2026-03708 is not classified as economically significant under Executive Order 12866. Economically significant rules require OIRA review and are estimated to have impacts of $100 million or more per year.