The National Environmental Policy Act Shouldn't Make Decisions Any Harder Than They Are Already

摘要

When the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was passed in 1969, the promise to Americans was that, prior to government making a big decision, an environmental analysis would be prepared upon which the decision could be informed. It was assumed that, with this analysis, the environment would be considered and valued at the same level as economic and social issues. Conducting such an analysis added a layer of complexity to the process of making decisions, but Americans were requiring that the environment be placed on par with other considerations— our water, air, landscape, and so much that our the environment embraces are so important to us we that we link them to our freedom, our collective ownership, our patriotism and even our faith and our deepest spirituality when we sing the nation's praise from our most cherished poets, from Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" to nature's images in Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" to John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High." They all express our love of country and what we love most about our country.