[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 28, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 28CFR61.1]

[Page 147-148]
 
                    TITLE 28--JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION
 
              CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (Continued)
 
PART 61--PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart A--General
 
Sec. 61.1  Background.


    (a) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq., establishes national policies and

[[Page 148]]

goals for the protection of the environment. Section 102(2) of NEPA 
contains certain procedural requirements directed toward the attainment 
of such goals. In particular, all federal agencies are required to give 
appropriate consideration to the environmental effects of their proposed 
actions in their decisionmaking and to prepare detailed environmental 
statements on proposals for legislation significantly affecting the 
quality of the human environment and on other major federal actions 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.
    (b) Executive Order No. 11991 of May 24, 1977, directed the Council 
on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to issue regulations to implement the 
procedural provisions of NEPA. Accordingly, CEQ issued final NEPA 
regulations, 40 CFR parts 1500-1508, (``The NEPA regulations''). These 
regulations provide that each federal agency shall, as necessary, adopt 
implementing procedures to supplement the regulations. The NEPA 
regulations identify those sections of the regulations which must be 
addressed in agency procedures.