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11 CEQ REGULATIONS PART 1500-PURPOSE, POLICY, AND MANDATE 1500.1 Purpose. 1500.2 Policy. 1500.3 Mandate. 1500.4 Reducing paperwork. 1500.5 Reducing delay. 1500.6 Agency authority. Authority: NEPA, the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970; as amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), section 309 of the Clean Air Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 7609) and Executive Order 11514, Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality (March 5, 1970 as amended by Executive Order 11991, May 24, 1977). 1500.1 Purpose. (a) The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is our basic national charter for protection of the environment. It establishes policy, sets goals (section 101), and provides means (section 102) for carrying out the policy. Section 102(2) contains "action-forcing" provisions to make sure that federal agencies act according to the letter and spirit of the Act. The regulations that follow implement Section 102(2). Their purpose is to tell federal agencies what they must do to comply with the procedures and achieve the goals of the Act. The President, the federal agencies, and the courts share responsibility for enforcing the Act so as to achieve the substantive requirements of section 101. (b) NEPA procedures must insure that environmental information is available to public officials and citizens before decisions are made and before actions are taken. The infor- mation must be of high quality. Accurate scientific analysis, expert agency comments, and public scrutiny are essential to implementing NEPA. Most important, NEPA documents must concentrate on the issues that are truly significant to the action in question, rather than amassing needless detail. (c) Ultimately, of course, it is not better documents but better decisions that count. NEPA's purpose is not to generate paperwork-even excellent paperwork-but to foster ex- cellent action. The NEPA process is intended to help public officials make decisions that are based on understanding of environmental consequences, and take actions that protect, restore, and enhance the environment. These regulations provide the direction to achieve this purpose. 1500.2 Policy. Federal agencies shall to the fullest extent possible: (a) Interpret and administer the policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States in accordance with the policies set forth in the Act and in these regulations. (b) Implement procedures to make the NEPA process more useful to decisionmakers and