Federal agency decisionmakers with environmental responsibilities have discovered the hidden truth that Lincoln forgot to mention. It is, in fact, possible to please none of the people all of the time.

No one is satisfied with the performance of administrative agencies in the area of environmental protection. For example, the mission agencies may for the most part comply with NEPA's procedural requirements, but that Act has brought few substantive changes to those agencies' views of their missions. And the Environmental Protection Agency may respond on its own to the specific directives of the Clean Air Act, but it has tackled the Clean Air Act problems of non-degradation, transportation controls, and complex source regulation only in response to court orders.