On November 29, 1978, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) opened a new chapter in the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)¹ by issuing final regulations² establishing substantially revised NEPA compliance procedures. The rules replace CEQ's 1973 Guidelines,³ which some agencies and reviewing courts considered merely advisory,⁴ with binding requirements that envision a set of uniform and streamlined procedures applicable to all federal agencies. The regulations are the clumination of an 18-month rulemaking process set in motion by Executive Order No. 11991,⁵ in which President Carter directed the Council to reform the NEPA process so as to reduce paperwork and make the statutory required environmental analysis more useful to federal decision makers and the public.

The final rules reflect numerous and in some instances noteworthy changes from the proposed draft published in June 1978⁶ which stimulated heavy public comment. An examination of the final regulations indicates that CEQ has done much to assure that paperwork and delay will be reduced and to foster agency decisions that are based on a full understanding of environmental consequences. Moreover, while there is some uncertainty as to the reach, legality, and efficacy of particular provisions, the new regulations as a whole promise to produce major improvements in NEPA's implementation.