Section 101 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA)¹ sets forth a clear statement of national goals and policies to protect and enhance the quality of our environment. Section 101(a) requires that the federal government attempt "to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony."² Section 101(b) directs the government "to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of national policy," to achieve six overlapping and comprehensive objectives of environmental preservation and enhancement to the end that the Nation may—

     (1) fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations;

     (2) assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and culturally pleasing suroundings;

     (3) attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without degradation, risk to health or safety, or other undesirable and unintended consequences;

     (4) preserve important historic, cultural, and natural aspects of our national heritage, and maintain, wherever possible, an environment which supports diversity, and variety of individual chcoice;

     (5) achieve a balance between population and resource use which will permit high standards of living and a wide sharing of life's amenities; and

     (6) enhance the quality of renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources.