Environmental legislation NEPA

NEPA was the major environmental legislation representing the nation s commitment to protect and maintain environmental quality. This act introduced the requirement that environmental impact statements be prepared on all federal actions. 

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law in 1970, and established a national policy to protect the environment, created a Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and required that environmental impact statements be prepared for major federal actions having a significant effect on the environment. The CEQ s efforts laid the groundwork for almost all current US environmental legislation. 

In the U.S., three pieces of federal legislation that were passed from 1969 to 1980, and the implementing rules and regulations that followed, initiated a series of fundamental changes in the management of waste and byproduct materials. They presently affect the way in which regulatory agencies address waste and byproduct material use. These acts include the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, 1969), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, 1976, 1980), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabilities Act (CERCLA) or Superfund (1980). 

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), passed by Congress on December 24, 1969, and signed into law by President Nixon on January 1,1970, mandated the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Council on Environmental Quality. Congressional environmental protection legislation subsequent to NEPA included the Clean Air Act (1970), the Resource Recovery Act (1970), the Water Pollution Control Act (1972), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Amendments (1972), and others. 

NEPA established the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) as the agency responsible for oversight of other federal agencies. The EPA was designated as a co-participant on this council and has been empowered by subsequent legislation (primarily the Clean Air Act - 1970) to act as the implementing arm of NEPA. EPA is currently chartered to review the environmental impact statements of other agencies. 

Include an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation, and other major Federal Actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. NEPA Section 102(2)(c)... 

Developments from the NEPA such as EISs, and later State Environmental Protection Acts (SEPAs) have had a major impact upon American industry, especially the chemical industry. Industry s response to the introduction of these new legislation was initially guarded, however, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grew in stature and legislation developed in specific areas of control, industry was forced to react quickly in order to ensure compliance with this new control regime. 

Specific, tangible provisions of NEPA included establishing a Council on Environmental Quality and requiring environmental impact statements where necessary. These were not minor elements in the legislation. Environmental impact statements were to consider the environmental impacts of alternatives to desired actions and their impacts, however unsavory the economic or political dimensions. In this sense, environmental impact statements are an environmental fuU disclosure law. ... 

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