The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) 43 U.S.C. §§4321 et seq., 1 ELR 41009, was signed into law by President Nixon on New Year's Day, 1970. This month, on NEPA's first anniversary, the Environmental Law Reporter is publishing Ronald Peterson's analysis of Title I of the act (1 ELR 50035). His article shows that during the past year, the broad mandates of the act to some extent did affect federal agency action and did afford private parties a means by which to challenge environmentally damaging federal action in the courts.

Mr. Peterson's analysis, however, is not merely a review of the past year's litigation under NEPA. Rather, it probes the substantive content of the national environmental policy, examines the ways in which the courts might enforce that policy, and calls upon the environmental bar to aid the courts by adopting a rational judicial strategy for the implementation of the act. Mr. Peterson reviews Title I's congressional declaration of environmental policy and analyzes line-by-line the act's imposition of substantive and procedural duties on federal officials and agencies that must implement that policy.

Since the completion of Mr. Peterson's article, there have been several judicial interpretations of NEPA. These decisions involve (1) the basis for judicial enforcement of the act and (2) the act's application to actions initiated prior to its effective date (January 1, 1970).