OPINION

Federal agencies have long been required to seek public comment when writing new regulations or approving large projects, from highways to data centers. The Trump administration is systematically undercutting that process, stifling public input while skirting federal laws.

Public participation is a hallmark of environmental regulation, embedded in every major environmental statute enacted over the past half-century. Yet the Trump administration has systematically sought to curtail public input into the government’s environmental decision-making by shirking decades of precedent and making strained interpretations of longstanding federal law. Looked at collectively, the pattern of public disenfranchisement is unmistakable.

There are good reasons to speed up the process of writing regulations and issuing permits, but truncating public input has serious costs. It can result in flawed policy that is harder to implement, full of avoidable error, and more vulnerable to being struck down by courts.…