Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
State Department, then the proposing federal agency will conduct a limited
environmental analysis or forego NEPA altogether.
2.2.7
Council on Environmental Quality
Title II of NEPA addresses the administration of the Act, among other man-
dates, by establishing the CEQ. As described below, CEQ was not intended to
be a NEPA police or enforcement entity but more a resource for environmen-
tal information and coordination. When NEPA was enacted, one of the pri-
mary roles assigned to the CEQ was the responsibility of generating an annual
report on the environment, namely the environmental quality report. Initially
the annual report was primarily a “to do” list and subsequently evolved into
a progress report and “report card.” CEQ published these reports from 1970 to
1997. However as individual agencies took responsibility for NEPA implemen-
tation and compliance, the comprehensive annual report on the environment
diminished in importance and visibility. In 1995 Congress passed the Federal
Reports Elimination and Sunset Act (Public Law 104-66) which eliminated
specific reporting by federal entities, including the environmental quality
report. In spite of eliminating the annual report, CEQ continues to provide
similar information regarding the environment annually on their web page.
NEPA was originally very clear on the limited authority of CEQ. It was
chartered as a source of environmental information made available to
federal agencies and not an enforcing or even an aggressive coordinating
agency. Sections 202 through 209 of NEPA make it very clear that CEQ is not
a “command and control” entity and it does not even have primary oversight
responsibility for EISs that are generally considered the center piece of NEPA
(see Section 2.4 of this chapter for oversight of EISs). These sections of NEPA
even set a very small maximum budget for CEQ ($300,000 for the first year)
to emphasize and enforce the limited role of the council.
The role of CEQ has evolved as individual agencies have gained environmen-
tal expertise and additional environmental laws have been enacted. In the early
years of NEPA, CEQ did provide some guidance to agencies as they struggled
with the meaning, intent, and requirements of NEPA and specifically with the
preparation of EISs (see Section 2.3 of this chapter, Summary of CEQ Guidelines
Implementing NEPA). Through the years, CEQ's most important role has been
to resolve conflicts among agencies. If a federal agency feels environmental
resources or requirements related to their jurisdiction or within their area of
expertise are threatened by the action of another federal agency, their NEPA
recourse is to refer the conflict to CEQ. CEQ has the authority to resolve the con-
flict either by ruling in favor of one or the other agencies or by forging a com-
promise. In practice, this “elevation to CEQ” is rarely used in comparison with
the hundreds of EISs filed annually, because the agency proposing the action
realizes this could result in delays at best or worse, cancellation of the proposed
action and bad publicity. Also the necessity for an environmental permit for
subsequent implementation of most proposed actions is an incentive to reach
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