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The National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) is often characterized as an environmental impact review law, but it is much more than that. It is a law that has made informed decision-making about the environment a key component of every major federal action.
Passed into law in 1969, NEPA is one of the most important and far-reaching environmental and conservation measures ever enacted. With the passage of NEPA, Congress recognized that the government’s actions have the potential to cause large-scale environmental effects. NEPA made informed decision-making about the environment a key component of every major federal action.
NEPA requires state and local project sponsors to engage in an environmental review intended to discover any significant impacts prior to starting construction. These impacts could include anything from the loss of wetlands to increases in pollution from highway construction to a decrease in soil quality associated with irrigation proposals.
NEPA has three visionary elements: 1) a far-sighted declaration of national environmental policy; 2) an “action-forcing mechanism” to ensure the federal government’s compliance with NEPA’s environmental goals; and, 3) a broad recognition of the importance of public participation in government decision-making.