NEPA was written, almost 35 years ago, first as a fundamental policy statement. It provided the nation with an overarching environmental policy: to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans (43 USC 4331). In order to carry out the new policy, the second tier of the law provided that federal planners and decision-makers consider environmental ramifications alongside other pertinent factors such as cost and technical issues. As a third tier, the framers of the new law provided a new action-forcing device preparation of documented assessments to lay the process open to public scrutiny and assist federal agencies in determining environmental impacts of proposed actions.

Was NEPA successful in achieving its purpose? What can we now say about the real essence of NEPA? Did we, as a nation, work to achieve the law s policy goal to prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man? Did we enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation? Or do we now view NEPA merely as the National Environmental Impact Statement Act an analytical nuisance and a roadblock to real progress?

We can look back and agree that the quality of our national environment is better than it was thirty or forty years ago, thanks to laws such as NEPA, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. Most federal...