The purpose of this paper is to make clear the environmental spirit and letter of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, to clarify the relationships between the NEPA and the U. S. Department of Transportation acting as the Lead Federal Agency of the circulation of WMATA's Reports, to appraise the Metro's EIS as an illustrative application of NEPA to the actual transportation system, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit System, along with the environmental procedures and processes following the format of the DOT, in full compliance with the guidelines for the content of EIS issued by the DOT, and to review the environmental considerations in the areawide transit system planning coordinated with the regional and local planning. Information used and the estimated environmental impacts identified are quoted from or refered to the documents of the NEPA, the WMATA and their consultants unless otherwise indicated.
