On February 17, 1969, a bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives "to provide for the establishment of a Council on Environmental Quality."¹ The following day, a measure with similar intent was introduced in the Senate.² In the next 11 months, the two bills received congressional consideration, with bipartisan sponsorship and support, were combined in conference, and were amended to proclaim their primary purpose: "to establish a national policy for the environment."³ The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)⁴ was signed into law by the president on January 1, 1970. It has become the basic policy-setting federal law relating to protection of the environment.

Earlier proposals had laid a foundation for this action. A number of related bills had been introduced in earlier Congress but had died in committee.⁵ As early as 1965, Russell Train, then head of the Conservation Foundation, proposed "that the President establish a Council of Ecological Advisers" to give environmental concerns "an important new status in planning and policymaking at the highest level of government."⁶ In 1969, these ideas became reality.