NEPA is a U.S. environmental statute signed into law in 1970 requiring all federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their proposed action(s) prior to making decisions. Specifically, it requires all federal agencies to prepare detailed statements assessing the environmental impact of and alternatives to major federal actions significantly affecting the environment. These statements are commonly referred to as Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Environmental Assessments (EA).
Once all environmental analysis requirements are satisfied, an agency will prepare a NEPA finding or decision document.
FAA Order 1050.1F, Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures, provides the FAA's agency-wide policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the requirements set forth in CEQ’s Regulations for implementing NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 1500 to 1508). Additional explanatory guidance for environmental impact analysis can be found in the FAA Order 1050.1F Desk Reference.
See the Environmental Assessment Milestones and Environmental Impact Statement Milestones below for additional information on the NEPA process for Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs).
Issuance of a license or permit, including renewals and modifications, by AST is considered a major Federal action under NEPA. Thus, AST analyzes the environmental impacts of the proposed authorization of operating commercial space launch and reentry sites (spaceports) and commercial space vehicle launches and reentries. A NEPA finding is required prior to license or permit authorization. Additionally, completion of a NEPA finding does not guarantee a license or permit authorization.
Click this link to view NEPA documents along with documents in progress.
For applicant license, permit, and safety element approval steps and requirements, refer to https://www.faa.gov/space/licenses/licensing_process/.
Information on the types of environmental documents prepared to support license or permit authorizations can be found below.
An EA is a concise document used to describe the anticipated environmental impacts of a proposed action and determine whether the action has the potential to significantly affect the human environment.
An EA defines the purpose and need for the project, analyzes the potential impacts of the project and alternatives; demonstrates compliance with other Executive Orders and environmental laws; and allows for public participation, when applicable. An EA may also contain mitigation measures that avoid, eliminate, or reduce anticipated impacts. The major milestones in the EA process are shown in Environmental Assessment Milestones.
If an EA demonstrates impacts of a proposed action would not be significant or could be mitigated to below the level of significance, AST will prepare and issue a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or a FONSI/Record of Decision (ROD). A FONSI presents AST’s findings and provides the rationale for why the project would not have a significant impact on the environment. Alternatively, if an EA demonstrates that the proposed action could result in significant impacts, AST would publish a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS to continue the environmental review.
AST may provide a public review and comment period for Draft EAs. All Final EAs and FONSIs are made available via the above link.
Expand All Collapse AllEnvironmental Assessment (EA) Statement Milestones: