A number of the executive orders and announcements coming from the White House since Donald Trump returned to office have painted an ambitious vision for America’s AI future—crushing competition with China, abolishing “woke” AI models that suppress conservative speech, jump-starting power-hungry AI data centers. But the details have been sparse.

When big infrastructure projects spring up, one crucial law — the National Environmental Policy Act — has for decades been a key way the government has required powerful industry interests to consider the environment and the public’s voice.