ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 15, 2020
President Donald Trump is expected to announce in Georgia on Wednesday a new federal rule to speed up the environmental review process for proposed highways, gas pipelines and other major infrastructure, a move that critics are describing as the dismantling of the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, one of the country’s bedrock environmental protection laws. The president’s trip comes as the state has seen coronavirus cases surge and now has tallied more than 12,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,000 deaths.