The United States - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 29

Two political parties have dominated the United States since 1856:
the Democrats and the Republicans. Besides the national level, they are
active in all 50 states. Since 1980 the Republicans have been less favor-
able to the environment and the Democrats have been more favorable.
Occasionally, small third parties emerge, but they usually do not last more
than a few years.
Interest groups are very important. The Clean Air Coalition and the
American Lung Association favor clean air. While no groups actually
admit they favor dirty air, the Edison Electric Institute and the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers want minimal limits on air pollution.
The Environmental Decade: Congress passed the National Environmen-
tal Policy Act (NEPA). President Richard Nixon signed it on New Year's
Day of 1970 on television, making a speech about how it was a new decade
in which the environment would be important. He said it would be the
Environmental Decade, and in this he was absolutely right. At the time
NEPA appeared to be the definitive law on the topic. It addressed how
the national government would handle its own actions that resulted in
pollution. Direct examples are pollution from military bases or nuclear
waste from facilities owned by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
Indirect examples are licenses from the Federal Power Commission or
the AEC for a nuclear plant to begin operation. The law has two key pro-
visions. First is that any time the government undertakes a significant
action, it must write an Environmental Impact Statement. The EIS would
lay out the issues but was not required to offer any solution, nor was the
agency required to adhere to any recommendations. The rationale was
that once an agency and the public knew the situation, they would do the
right thing (presumably protect the environment). Hardly anyone antic-
ipated the importance of the EIS requirement. The second provision of
NEPA established a Council on Environmental Quality. This small agency
was to receive the Statements, advise the president, and coordinate policy
throughout the national government.
Within months it became apparent that CEQ was too small to coor-
dinate government-wide. Air was the responsibility of the National Air
Pollution Control Administration. Originally this agency had been part
of the Public Health Service, and then became a separate bureau in the
Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Water was the responsi-
bility of the Water Quality Administration under the Department of the
Interior. Originally it too had been part of the Public Health Service, and
then spun of to become a bureau in the Department of Health, Education