THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT AND THE VALUE OF INFORMATION.

The National Environmental Policy Act requires many federal actions to be accompanied by a "detailed statement" on the expected environmental impacts of the action and its alternatives. But despite half a century since its passage, agencies still lack clear, reasoned guidance as to (1) what kinds of impacts must be considered, (2) how thoroughly those impacts must be analyzed, and (3) what kinds of alternatives to the federal action must be also assessed. The existing literature regarding these three "stopping-point" problems has largely overlooked one possible approach: to assess the expected benefits and costs of gathering more information through value-ofinformation analysis. Such a framework does not provide easy answers, but at least gives a basis for agencies and courts to reason about what environmental disclosures should be required, and why. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]