The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 was signed into law on January 1, 1970, launching a decade marked by passage of key environmental legislation and increased awareness of environmental problems. The act established the first comprehensive national policies and goals for the protection, maintenance, and use of the environment. The act also established the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to oversee NEPA and advise the president on environmental issues.

Title I of NEPA declares that the federal government will use all practicable means and measures to create and maintain conditions under which people and nature can exist in productive harmony, while fulfilling the social and economic requirements of the American people. Included in this declaration are goals to attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without undesirable consequences and to preserve culturally and aesthetically important features of the landscape. The...