Section 309 of the Clean Air Act¹ makes the Environmental Protection Agency full partner of the Council on Environmental Quality in the task of overseeing implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act.² Congress gave EPA responsibilities complementary to those of CEQ so that both agencies could accomplish together what each alone would be unable to do. Section 309 lays the groundwork for a formidable administrative team fully capable of ensuring compliance with NEPA in government decisionmaking. To the chagrin of environmentalists, however, EPA has been reluctant to perform certain of its responsibilities under §309.³ This Article discusses the duties assigned to EPA under §309, and the steps EPA has taken to fulfill them. In conclusion, the Article suggests that a lawsuit may be the appropriate means of compelling EPA to meet all its §309 responsibilities, so that the complementary strengths of EPA and CEQ may be brought fully to bear on agency decisionmaking under NEPA.

NEPA's proclaimed goal is to attain "harmony between man and his environment."⁴ Congress sought to achieve this end by reforming government decisionmaking.⁵ Section 102(2)(C) of NEPA requires all federal agencies embarking upon major actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment to (1) consult with and obtain comments from any federal agency with jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to the environmental impact involved, and (2) prepare a detailed environmental impact statement to be made available to the public together with comments obtained from other agencies. These procedural requirements are designed to shape federal decisionmaking in two ways. First, interagency consultation prior to federal action should reduce agency "tunnel vision" and foster consideration and balancing of a wide range of goals, with emphasis on preserving and enhancing environmental quality. Second, placing affirmative burden on the acting agency to prepare written statements explaining a proposal's environmental effects should create a reviewable record, allowing administrative decisions to be scrutinized both at higher levels within the executive branch and by the public. NEPA places responsibility for executing these procedural and substantive reforms on each individual agency. Thus, there is no way to know whether NEPA's mandates are being met in a particular action except by a thorough review of the decisionmaking process behind that action. The Council on Environmental Quality⁶ has assumed, among its other responsibilities, the task of monitoring other federal agencies' procedural compliance with NEPA.⁷