42 U.S.C. § 4371
Section 4371 · Congressional findings, declarations, and purposes
This is the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 30 court decisions — leading case Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe (1971)
Most recently applied in New York Coastal Partnership, Inc. v. United States Department of the Interior (August 2003)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) The Congress finds—
(1) that man has caused changes in the environment;
(2) that many of these changes may affect the relationship between man and his environment; and
(3) that population increases and urban concentration contribute directly to pollution and the degradation of our environment.
(b)(1) The Congress declares that there is a national policy for the environment which provides for the enhancement of environmental quality. This policy is evidenced by statutes heretofore enacted relating to the prevention, abatement, and control of environmental pollution, water and land resources, transportation, and economic and regional development.
(2) The primary responsibility for implementing this policy rests with State and local government.
(3) The Federal Government encourages and supports implementation of this policy through appropriate regional organizations established under existing law.
(c) The purposes of this chapter are—
(1) to assure that each Federal department and agency conducting or supporting public works activities which affect the environment shall implement the policies established under existing law; and
(2) to authorize an Office of Environmental Quality, which, notwithstanding any other provision of law, shall provide the professional and administrative staff for the Council on Environmental Quality established by Public Law 91–190.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Public Law 91–190, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), is Pub. L. 91–190, Jan. 1, 1970, 83 Stat. 852, as amended, known as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which is classified generally to chapter 55 (§4321 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 4321 of this title and Tables.
Short Title
Section 201 of Pub. L. 91–224 provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970’.”