Summary of the National Environmental Policy Act and Implementing Regulations - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 33

(March 5, 1970) giving CEQ authority to issue guidance to federal agencies
in implementing NEPA. CEQ issued final guidelines in August 1973 (38 Fed.
Reg. 10856 [1973]) and the guidelines were used for a number of years until
their limitations became apparent.
The major limitations of the 1973 CEQ NEPA guidelines were in the exten-
sive level of discretion left to officials within the agencies, who had little under-
standing of NEPA and no commitment to the new national environmental
policy or environmental awareness. In the early years following passage of
NEPA, senior management in most federal agencies had these limitations and
saw the Act and the CEQ guidelines as a threat to their agencies' mission. As
a result of minimal experience and appreciation, at best there was inconsis-
tency in the application of the CEQ guidelines among agencies and at worst
the guidelines were ignored by many agencies. The courts did little to rectify
the situation because they viewed CEQ's efforts as guidance and not man-
dates. Also the court decision on the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Station (see
Section 2.2.3 of this chapter) gave agencies some insight into the NEPA pri-
mary product (EIS), but little guidance on how to conduct the environmental
impact analysis. This situation prevented attainment of NEPA objectives and
severely inhibited productive public participation because the public could
not determine how to become involved due to the inconsistencies and vari-
ability among agencies and even different factions within the same agency.
This situation was seen as undermining the intent of NEPA, and President
Carter issued Executive Order 11991 (May 24, 1977) giving CEQ authority
to issue binding requirements on all federal agencies. The resulting regula-
tions (CEQ 43 Fed. Reg. 559990,1978 amended as 51 Fed. Reg. 15625,1986 and
Public Law 91-190, 42 U.S.C. 4321-4347, as amended by Public Laws 94-52, 94-83,
and 97-2580) became the mandatory “gold standard” for implementing NEPA.
In accordance with the CEQ Regulations (§1505 and 1507), each federal agency
has since issued their own NEPA guidance that adheres to CEQ Regulations
and meets the specific mission and organizational structure of each agency.
The CEQ and agency procedures implementing NEPA have withstood
the test of time and numerous court challenges. In more than 25 years, the
regulations have only been amended one time, and that was to delete the
clause, requiring an “analysis of worst case.” This change was not because
it was seen as inconsistent with the intent of NEPA but rather because in
the complex environmental analysis field with almost infinite variables, the
worst case cannot be reasonably defined. The CEQ Regulations have also
established a strong framework for technically sound environmental analy-
sis and active public input and participation. Environmental analysis in the
United States now operates under the umbrella of these regulations, and
state and international programs have been developed in light of the experi-
ence gained and lessons learned from the CEQ Regulations.
The CEQ Regulations added meat to the skeletal requirements in Section
120 of NEPA. They cover all aspects of NEPA compliance from applying
NEPA in the early stage of an agency's strategy development and planning