National Environmental
Protection Act (NEPA)
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) was signed into law on January 1, 1970 and marks the first national environmental policy established in the US. The legislation requires federal agencies to include environmental values in their process of decision making by considering the impacts their proposed actions will have on the environment and to draft a detailed statement outlining alternatives to those actions called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). In addition, these documents must be made available to the public for comment prior to implementation.
Transportation and Development
subject to NEPA
Many transportation and development issues are subject to NEPA including
issues of planning, design, and construction of transit and road projects
because of the major impact such developments have on air, water, land,
and wildlife.
National and state government agencies, from departments of transportation to planning commissions, must comply with NEPA. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) are two government agencies responsible for enforcing and implementing various parts of NEPA. When those agencies do not do their job of making sure NEPA is followed, citizen and environmental groups have the right to sue those agencies. Such action is aimed to ensure that the government is doing the best they can to ensure that citizens and the environment are being protected from harmful projects.
See the EPA's NEPA website