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NEPA Research Problem
Answering the following questions will allow you to use many of the resources that were discussed in the administrative law research tutorial. The questions can be answered using the web, Westlaw, Lexis, or the books. The questions use the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a major piece of Federal legislation which is intentionally broad and confers many details of implementation to the discretion of the various agencies.
1. Most agency websites offer a general overview of the issues affecting that agency, primary documents (some of which are not available elsewhere), and links to other web sites of interest.
a. Find the Environmental Protection Agency's website. What is the URL?
b. Find the page on EPA's website with NEPA information. What is the URL? Does it look helpful? Why or why not?
c. The EPA website also links to the Council on Environmental Quality's site devoted to NEPA-related information (known as "NEPAnet"). Give the URL for NEPAnet as well as a general description of the types of information that can be found there. Does it look helpful? Why or why not?
2. Find NEPA (the National Environmental Quality Act). What is the U.S. Code citation for NEPA?
3. NEPA requires all Federal agencies to issue statements on the environmental impact of "all proposals for legislation and other major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." These documents are known as "Environmental Impact Statements." Find the appropriate sections of the Code of Federal Regulations to find more information on (i) the purpose of Environmental Impact Statements, and (ii) what is required of individual agencies when preparing an Environmental Impact Statement. Use at least two different methods of searching the CFR (CFR web site, agency web sites, Westlaw, Lexis, print) when you answer these questions.
a. What is the purpose of an Environmental Impact Statement? Cite the relevant section of the CFR.
b. Cite the section of the CFR that gives the recommended format for an Environmental Impact Statement.
c. In addition to the general regulations for Environmental Impact Statements, agencies must also follow internal procedures when preparing Statements. Find and cite the regulations on preparing Environmental Impact Statements for the Department of Energy.
4. It is always important to update your research. For each subpart of question3 update the sections that you find so that you know you have the current text. Use at least two different methods of updating.
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