26 Environmental Impact Analysis
As important as the environmental statement requirement is to the goals
of NEPA, there are exceptions. During the legislative debate over NEPA,
Senator Muskie from Maine insisted on an exception to the mandate for
environmental statements on certain regulatory actions designed to provide
environmental enhancement and protection (Andrews 1997). The exceptions
were proposed because they would slow down the implementation of the
intended environmental improvement and create no added value. Drafters
of the legislation agreed, recognizing the intent of the regulations was envi-
ronmental protection and thus exclusion of environmental regulation was
consistent with the evolving national en