Environmental Quality Improvement Act
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| Long title | Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970 |
|---|---|
| Enacted by | the 91st United States Congress |
| Effective | April 3rd. 1970 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | P.L. 91-224 |
| Statutes at Large | 83 Stat. 854 |
| Codification | |
| U.S.C. sections created | 42 U.S.C. 4371-4374 |
| Legislative history | |
The Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970 is a United States environmental law which was passed to work in conjunction with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). One of the two major purposes of the Act was to authorize the creation of an Office of Environmental Quality to provide the professional and administrative staff needed for the Council on Environmental Quality. The second major purpose was to "assure that each Federal department and agency conducting or supporting public works activities which affect the environment shall implement the policies under existing law". To accomplish these purposes, the act gave more responsibilities to the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality in his new role as Director of the Office of Environmental Quality.
The Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970 started out as H.R. 4148 in the U.S. House of Representatives Public Works Committee in April 1970. It was taken up by the U.S. Senate Public Works Committee in October 1969 and went to a joint conference between the houses in March 1969. The bill passed the Senate with a vote of 80 to 0 on March 24 and the House on March 25 with a vote of 358 to 0. The lack of any nay votes shows there was broad support for the passage of this bill.
The bill also had six amendments from the years 1973 to 1984 but the amendments mostly dealt with providing additional funding in various years over the amount specified by NEPA. The amounts ranged from a low of an additional $44,000.00/ year for 1982-1984 to a high of $3,000,000/year additional funds for 1980 and 1981. Besides providing additional funds, Pub. L. 98-581 (10-30-1984) amended the Environmental Quality Improvement Act to create a fund called the Office of Environmental Quality Management Fund (42 US Code 4375(a)). The fund was established to finance study contracts that are sponsored by both the OEQ and at least one other Federal agency. The fund can also fund Federal Interagency environmental projects such as a task force that the OEQ is participating in. The fund is allowed to receive advance payments from other agencies to finance the proposed study, project or activity.
In Section 4372 (a), (b), and (c) of the act, the Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ) is established as an office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States with the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) as the Director of the OEQ. In addition, the President of the United States also picks a Deputy Director for the OEQ who is also to be approved by the Senate. While the Director is allowed to employ the amount of people he may need to carry out the work of the OEQ, he is limited to hiring only ten specialists or experts. These specialists or experts also cannot be paid more than a GS-18 pay scale. The function of the OEQ is to provide support for the CEQ and to help the Director carry out his new duties as given in Section 4372 (d). The OEQ and the CEQ are simply known jointly as the Council on Environmental Quality and there is not a separate listing for the OEQ within the Office of the President or a separate website from the CEQ.
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