Fifty-five groups from across the Great Lakes region on Tuesday urged the Trump administration to stop its effort to relax core federal environmental regulations.

The groups urged the administration to abandon plans to change how environmental reviews are conducted by federal agencies under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Since it became federal law in 1970, NEPA has guided how every federal agency conducts reviews of the environmental impacts of major projects. The Trump administration is proposing to shorten review periods and the public input process in an effort to speed up projects.

In a letter to Council on Environmental Quality Chair Mary Neumayr, the groups, including the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, also asked the administration for a longer, 180-day public comment period on the proposed changes. They also asked for a federal hearing to be held in the Great Lakes region. The administration has given the public only 60 days to comment on the revision to NEPA regulations and two public hearings: one in Washington, D.C., and one in Denver.

The letter includes environmental and civic groups from New York to Minnesota, but also religious orders, research institutes, real estate agencies, landscapers and groups representing retired teachers and charter boat companies.

“This rollback of the NEPA process will short-circuit environmental reviews and restrict the public’s voice. Great Lakes residents want to be able to voice their concerns at a public hearing and to have a more reasonable amount of time to evaluate and comment on this major change to how large projects will be evaluated,” said Rachel Granneman, staff attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center.

“It is troubling that the administration is trying to limit public input on a proposed rule that would itself limit public input," Granneman continued. “This is yet another threat to the Great Lakes region.”