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Does Nepa Require An Impact Statement On Inaction?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note considers the question of whether NEPA requires an EIS in cases of official refusal to exercise discretionary agency authority. Part I develops the competing theories for resolving this question. The current judicial attitude, which has excluded important cases with far-reaching environmental effects from the EIS requirement, plainly frustrates the statute's procedural purposes. Regulations promulgated by the Council on Environmental Quality define "major federal action" to include the failure to act under certain circumstances, and offer one alternative to the current approach. But the regulations condition the classification of inaction as action upon reviewability under the Administrative Procedures Act, …