Council on Environmental Quality: the need to take a second look

Journal Article · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1976 · Nat. Resour. J.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7153472

Liroff, R A

This note describes some of the altered circumstances making reappraisal of the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) role in Federal environmental decision making desirable, and identifies some of the questions that should be addressed in this research undertaking. The changes in institutional and policy environment and personnel are noted. The agencies with which CEQ interacts have undergone alteration, new offices have been created, and new personnel hired to help the agencies meet their environmental obligations. The composition of the congressional committees to which CEQ must answer has been modified. Outside the government, CEQ's natural allies within the environmental movement are better organized and somewhat more sophisticated in their lobbying efforts in the agencies and in Congress. Congress has implicitly strengthened the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by rejecting most major assaults on it. Concern with many agencies has shifted from elementary to more complex questions of NEPA implementation. Energy supply has now joined environmental protection high on the congressional agenda, and Congress and the executive branch alike appear more interested in the implementation of existing environmental legislation than in the enactment of new environmental statutes. All these institutional and policy changes have implications for CEQ.

• Research Organization: Environmental Law Inst., Washington, DC
• OSTI ID: 7153472
• Journal Information: Nat. Resour. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Nat. Resour. J.; (United States) Vol. 16:2; ISSN NRJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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