The National Environmental Policy Act142 U.S.C. §§ 4321–4347. (NEPA) requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their actions. When NEPA was enacted by Congress in 1969 and signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on January 1, 1970, the purpose of the statute was to change the procedures of federal agencies by mandating that they consider the environmental consequences of their decisions.2S. Rep. No. 91-296, at 4–8 (1969). Under NEPA, whenever a federal agency proposes “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” that agency must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) that assesses the effects of those actions and presents alternatives.342 U.S.C. §§ 4332(2)(C), (E). For a general discussion of NEPA’s effect on the energy industry, see Peggy Gentles & Donald N. Zillman, Perspectives on NEPA in the Courts, 20 Envtl. L. 505, 520–29 (1990). In turn, the federal agency relies upon the EIS in deciding whether and ...