Greendays – An Environmental Almanac

Abstract

National Environmental Policy Act January 1 marks the thirty-year anniversary of President Richard Nixon signing the nation’s first major environmental bill, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), into law. Twenty-seven new laws to protect the environment were approved in the decade following passage of NEPA. The Act required government to “use all practicable means...to create and maintain conditions in which man and nature can exist in productive harmony.” NEPA stated it was the Federal Government’s responsibility to: 1) preserve the environment for future generations; 2) assure a healthy, pleasant environment for all Americans; 3) prevent environmental degradation; 4) preserve aspects of national natural heritage; 5) balance population growth and resource use; and 6) promote renewable resources and recycling. NEPA made federal agencies responsible for considering the environmental impact of their actions. A key part of the act was the requirement that Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) be filed for federal activities that would affect the environment. The first lawsuit brought under the NEPA guidelines was filed March 26, 1970 and involved a challenge to the application for construction of the Trans-Alaska pipeline.