Summary of the National Environmental Policy Act and Implementing Regulations - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 14

New Deal in the 1930s and accelerated through World War II and into the
1960s. With this expansion, federal agencies are involved in more and more
activities that could adversely affect the environment, and thus NEPA
applies.
As these agencies grew in number and responsibility, each had its mission,
constituency, funding, and authority. Each agency had become accustomed
to operating semi-independently and dedicated to carrying out only their
mission without regard to broader national issues and concerns, including
environmental sustainability and protection. An overarching environmental
law or an environmental agency with veto power over their actions would
have been extremely threatening to the agencies, their standard operating
procedure, special interest constituents, and ensconced bureaucracies. This
could result in confusion and resistance that would paralyze or at least delay
actions and decisions by the agencies and also constrain achievement of the
environmental goals.
Thus, in addition to limiting NEPA to federal agencies as a concession to
private industry and commerce, a compromise on federal agency mandate in
the environmental legislation was necessary for broad support and to reach
the intended goal. The language of NEPA is somewhat vague on what is
actually required of federal agencies, using such language as, “ In order to
carry out the policy set forth in the Act, it is the continuing responsibility of the
Federal Government to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential
considerations… to improve and coordinate Federal plans, functions, programs and
resources to the end that the Nation may (1) fulfill the responsibilities … as trustee
of the environment… (3) attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environ-
ment without degradation… (5) achieve a balance between population and resource
use ” (42 U.S.C. 4332 Sec. 101). This language was not overly threatening to
the federal agencies and they did not mount a strong resistance. Thus there
was no strong opposition for the bureaucratic establishment, private parties
did not feel threatened by the sole focus on federal agencies contained in the
proposed legislation, and the National Environmental Policy Act was passed
overwhelmingly in both houses of Congress and signed by President Nixon
on January 1, 1970.
In reality, the scope of NEPA was broader than a superficial interpreta-
tion would imply. As the U.S. society, commerce, and government became
more complex, the role of federal agencies broadened and became more mul-
tifaceted. By the mid-to-late 1970s, the role and activities of federal agencies
drastically increased with such actions as the passage of the Clean Air and
Clean Water Acts, federal funding of infrastructure projects (e.g., roads, rail,
bridges, airports, and wastewater treatment), federal funding for economic
development, licensing of electrical power-generating facilities, federal
housing, leasing of federal lands, fossil fuel exploration on federal lands, and
aid to foreign nations. Thus, more and more development projects involved
federal agency approval or funding. Each of these activities was considered
a federal action and was subject to NEPA. Thus, there were many more