By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Wednesday saw the White House take the first steps to restore federal regulations governing environmental reviews of infrastructure projects, such as pipelines or highways. They were reportedly slashed by Trump’s attempt to speed up their approval.

According to the White House Council for Environmental Quality, it would restore important provisions from the National Environmental Policy Act regulations (NEPA), which were in effect before Trump’s administration overhauled them last year. This was the first time the rules had been changed in many decades.

A new White House Council rule would require the agency to account climate change, and other indirect environmental effects of projects. Federal agencies are empowered to examine alternative design or approaches to a company’s proposals and allow agencies to adopt review procedures that extend beyond the regulations.

“The basic community safeguards we are proposing to restore would help ensure that American infrastructure gets built right the first time,” said council Chair Brenda Mallory, who added that the changes can “reduce conflict and litigation” involved in the environmental review process.

Trump, the former President of the United States, revamped NEPA to speed up major projects such as Keystone XL’s cancelled oil pipeline. Trump claimed that NEPA got bogged down in red tape which he felt impeded his efforts on “energy dominance” in America.

The NEPA reform allowed federal agencies the ability to exempt the climate effect of projects, making it simpler for large fossil fuel projects to pass the approval process without legal obstacles.

Over the last few years, federal courts had ruled that NEPA required the federal government to consider a project’s carbon footprint in decisions related to leasing public lands for drilling or building pipelines.

Trump’s ruling also expanded the range of projects that are exempt from NEPA.

In the months ahead, the council is working on the next phase to its NEPA regulations changes. It will provide more details about how communities can take part in the environmental review process, and account for climate change.