Appendix A: Major Federal Environmental Laws

• Author: Elizabeth D. Mullin
• Pages: 67-70

67

APPENDIX A:

Major Federal Environmental Laws

The following is a list of major federal environmental laws. Listed

under each law are key programs and regulations that may result in

the generation of environmental documents.

As discussed in the “St atutes” section of Ch apter 2 (“Preparing to C om-

ment”), federal environmental laws are printed in the United States Code

(U.S.C.). e following table lists the citation to the full text of the law

across from the name of the statute. e rst number is the “tit le” number;

it appe ars on the spine of each volume. e second is the number of the

section or sections (“§” is t he section symbol —two of them mean two or

more sections).

ere is one problem. People in environmenta l law invariably refer to

statutes by yet another number: the section number in t he bill as pa ssed by

Congress before placement in the U.S.C. For example, the EIS provisions of

NEPA began life as statutory section 102 before incorporat ion into U.S.C.

as 42 U.S.C. §4332. Most people still call it 102 (pronounced “one, oh,

two”). In the table below, these numbers appear in parentheses following

the names of the key programs or provisions. e U.S.C. provision is listed

beside it. You may need either or both to nd what you need or understand

what you read.

e following table also contains citations to the per tinent regulations in

the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). As above, the rst number refers to

the “title” number that appears on t he spine of each volume. e C.F.R. is

divided into “Parts” with sections within each part. Again, the section sym-

bol (§) designates sections. If you see, for example, a citation to 40 C.F.R.

§6.604, look up Title 40, Part 6, Section 6.604.