NEPA is only about five pages long, containing a statement of purpose and but two subchapters. The second subchapter creates the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which oversees the implementation of the Act and reports directly to the President. The first subchapter contains the true substance of the Act and is described below:

Subchapter I, § 4331 declares a national environmental policy and lists broad goals to be achieved by the Federal Government and the Nation to:

1. Fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment
2. Assure a safe, healthful, productive, and aesthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings
3. Attain a wide range of beneficial uses of the environment while avoiding degradation or risk to health or safety or other undesirable or unintended consequences
4. Preserve our national heritage and wherever possible, an environment which supports diversity, and variety of individual choice
5. Achieve a balance between population and resource use
6. Enhance the quality of renewable natural resources and recycle depletable resources

Subchapter I, § 4332  provides the action-forcing mechanisms for the achievement of stated goals. The section sets forth procedural requirements for the preparation of environmental impact statements and insists that "to the fullest extent possible" agencies of the federal government shall:

1. Utilize a systematic, interdisciplinary approach which will ensure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and in decision making which may have an impact on man's environment.
2. Develop procedures with the CEQ that will insure the consideration of presently unquantified environmental amenities and values along with economic and technical considerations.
3. Include in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a detailed statement by the responsible official on -the environmental impact of the proposed action
   • any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented
   • alternatives to the proposed action
   • the relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity, and
   • any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.

4. Study, develop and describe appropriate alternatives to recommended courses of action in any proposal which involves unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of available resources.

The remainder of Subchapter I refers to support of international initiatives, sharing of advice and information, the use of ecological information in planning and development of projects, assistance to the Council on Environmental Quality, and agency compliance with NEPA.