In an article in this month's ELR,¹ Nicholas C. Yost, Deputy Attorney General in charge of the Environmental Unit of the California Attorney General's office, reviews and analyzes state enactments parallelling NEPA. NEPA, he observes, reversed the pattern by which innovative ideas for environmental legislation are first adopted at the state level and later incorporated into federal law. Here, a novel federal law fathered equivalents in 18 jurisdictions, in most cases by legislation, but in a few states by administrative action.

Mr. Yost examines in detail first the declared policy and goals of the states' "little NEPAs" and the extent to which the obligation to follow the state's environmental policy is made binding on state agencies and officials. Next, he analyzes the environmental impact statements that all state NEPAs require, examining their elements and scope. In some states, for example, an EIS is required for the activities of local governments as well as state agencies; in others, local governments are exempted. States also vary in the type of state agency action for which an EIS is required: a permit to a private developer to conduct environmentally harmful actions on privately owned land would necessitate an EIS in some states, but not in others. The author then studies state equivalents of the NEPA requirement that responsible federal officials consult with and obtain the comments of any agency with special responsibilities or expertise on the particular issue.