The purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act, in the words of the Senate Committee Report on it, was to establish a "clear statement of the values and goals which we seek . . . a set of resource management values which are in the long-range public interest and which merit the support of all social institutions . . . in short, a national environmental policy."¹ The report argued that such a policy was necessary, in view of the accelerating spread of pollution, crowding, and other forms of environmental degradation; that it was an unavoidable responsibility of the Congress, since "only there could competing political interests be adequately represented and accomodated;"² and that it must be implemented within the activities of all agencies of the federal government, since "environmental programs are presently administered by 63 Federal agencies located within 10 of the 13 departments as well as 16 independent agencies of the executive branch."³