National Environmental Policy Act; NASA Routine Payloads on Expendable Launch Vehicles

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and NASA policy and procedures (14 CFR part 1216 subpart 1216.3), NASA has made a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with respect to the proposed launch of NASA Routine Payloads on expendable launch vehicles. The proposed launches would occur from existing launch facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California, the United States Army Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan Test Site (USAKA/RTS) in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), NASA's Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Virginia, and the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC), Alaska. This FONSI summarizes NASA's consideration of environmental impacts for routine payloads being launched at facilities addressed in the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for NASA Routine Payloads on Expendable Launch Vehicles dated August 2011. The final EA updates the Final Environmental Assessment for Launch of NASA Routine Payloads on Expendable Launch Vehicles from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base California published in June 2002 (2002 NRP EA). The final EA and FONSI incorporate by reference the 2002 NRP EA. For completeness, much of the June 2002 NRP EA is restated in this final EA. The Cooperating Agencies on this final EA include the Federal Aviation Administration, the Air Force Space and Missile System Center, the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration.