In my mind, NEPA did not fall short, but we have (“Where NEPA fell short,” January 2020). The only real requirement that NEPA provided was the environmental impact statement process, which gave citizens a process of public participation, review, and comment that was not optional. The reason that NEPA has not made more progress is because agencies don’t want to tell the public the truth. They have fought NEPA from its inception and used every trick they know to ignore, avoid, mislead and do a poor job on EISes and their responsibility to the public. NEPA is not costly in the entire scheme of a project, but agencies use this excuse, or lie at every opportunity. Let’s ensure that agencies “do the right thing” and tell the public the truth every time.
—Brandt Mannchen, via email
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline NEPA hasn’t failed.
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