§ 1216.303 NEPA process in NASA planning and decision making.

(a) NEPA is a procedural statute intended to ensure Federal agencies consider the environmental impacts of their proposed actions in the decision-making process. Full integration of the NEPA process with NASA project and program planning improves Agency decisions and ensures: (1) Consideration of sustainability, environmental stewardship, and compliance with applicable environmental statutes, regulations, and policies. (2) NASA's analyses and documentation are prepared using a process that is transparent to the public, including opportunities for receipt and consideration of public comment, when appropriate. (3) Potential program and project risks and delays are minimized. (b) In considering whether the effects of a proposed action are significant and determining the appropriate level of NEPA review and documentation (i.e., EIS, environmental assessments (EA), categorical exclusions (CatEx)), NASA shall consider and analyze the potentially affected environment (i.e., affected area [national, regional, or local] and resources located therein) and the degree of the effects of the proposed action (e.g., short- and long-term effects, effects both beneficial and adverse, effects on public health and safety, effects that would violate Federal, state, Tribal, or local law protecting the environment). (c) NASA shall consider the reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts of a proposed Agency action, along with technical, economic, public health and safety, security, and other factors that are reasonably foreseeable, beginning in the early planning stage of a proposed action. NASA will not take any action that would have an adverse environmental impact or limit the choice of reasonable alternatives prior to completing NEPA review except as provided in 40 CFR 1506.1. (d) Records of Environmental Consideration (RECs) will be used to document: (1) Application of specific categorical exclusions to proposed actions; (2) Adoption of Federal draft or final NEPA documents; (3) Reevaluation of an existing NEPA document; and (4) Determination of whether an action fits within an existing NEPA document, including a programmatic NEPA document.