[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 14, Volume 5, Parts 1200 to end]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 14CFR1216.305]

[Page 157-159]
 
                     TITLE 14--AERONAUTICS AND SPACE
 
                          SPACE ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 1216--ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY--Table of Contents
 
 Subpart 1216.3--Procedures for Implementing the National Environmental 
                            Policy Act (NEPA)
 
Sec. 1216.305  Criteria for actions requiring environmental assessments.

    (a) Whether a proposed NASA action within the meaning of the CEQ 
Regulations (43 FR 55978) requires the preparation of an environmental 
assessment, an environmental impact statement, both, or neither, will 
depend upon the scope of the action and the context and intensity of any 
environmental effects

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expected to result. A NASA action shall require the preparation of an 
environmental assessment (Secs. 1501.3 and 1508.9 of the CEQ 
Regulations) provided the action is not one normally requiring an 
environmental impact statement (paragraph (c)) or it is not 
categorically excluded from the requirement for an environmental 
assessment and an environmental impact statement (paragraph (d)).
    (b) Specific NASA actions normally requiring an environmental 
assessment are:
    (1) Specific spacecraft development and flight projects in space 
science.
    (2) Specific spacecraft development and flight projects in space and 
terrestrial applications.
    (3) Specific experimental projects in aeronautics and space 
technology and energy technology applications.
    (4) Development and operation of new space transportation systems 
and advanced development of new space transportation and spacecraft 
systems.
    (5) Reimbursable launches of non-NASA spacecraft or payloads.
    (6) Major Construction of Facilities projects.
    (7) Actions to alter ongoing operations at a NASA installation which 
could lead, either directly or indirectly, to natural or physical 
environmental effects.
    (c) NASA actions expected to have a significant effect upon the 
quality of the human environment shall require an environmental impact 
statement. For these actions an environmental assessment is not 
required. Criteria to be used in determining significance are given in 
Sec. 1508.27 of the CEQ Regulations (43 FR 55978). Specific NASA actions 
requiring environmental impact statements, all in the R&D budget 
category, are as follows:
    (1) Development and operation of new launch vehicles.
    (2) Development and operation of space vehicles likely to release 
substantial amounts of foreign materials into the earth's atmosphere, or 
into space.
    (3) Development and operation of nuclear systems, including reactors 
and thermal devices used for propulsion and/or power generation. 
Excluded are devices with millicurie quantities or less of radioactive 
materials used as instrument detectors and small radioisotope heaters 
used for local thermal control, provided they are properly contained and 
shielded.
    (d) NASA actions categorically excluded from the requirements to 
prepare either an environmental assessment or an EIS (Sec. 1508.4 of the 
CEQ Regulations) fit the following criteria: They are each sub-elements 
of an approved broadbased level-of-effort NASA science and technology 
program (basic research, applied research, development of technology, 
ongoing mission operations), facility program, or institutional program; 
and they are each managed relatively independently of other related sub-
elements by means of separate task orders, Research and Technology 
Operating Plans, etc. Specific NASA actions fitting these criteria and 
thus categorically excluded from the requirements for environmental 
assessments and environmental impact statements are:
    (1) R&D (or SFCDC) activities in space science (e.g., Physics and 
Astronomy Research and Analysis, Planetary Exploration Mission 
Operations and Data Analysis) other than specific spacecraft development 
and flight projects.
    (2) R&D activities in space and terrestrial applications (e.g., 
Resource Observations Applied Research and Data Analysis, Technology 
Utilization) other than specific spacecraft development and flight 
projects.
    (3) R&D activities in aeronautics and space technology and energy 
technology applications (e.g., Research and Technology Base, Systems 
Technology Programs) other than experimental projects.
    (4) R&D (or SFCDC) activities in space transportation systems 
engineering and scientific and technical support operations, routine 
transportation operations, and advanced studies.
    (5) R&D (or SFCDC) activities in space tracking and data systems.
    (6) Facility planning and design (funding).
    (7) Minor construction of new facilities including rehabilitation, 
modification, and repair.

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    (8) Continuing operations of a NASA installation at a level of 
effort, or altered operations, provided the alterations induce only 
social and/or economic effects but no natural or physical environmental 
effects.
    (e) Even though an action may be categorically excluded from the 
need for a formal environmental assessment or environmental impact 
statement, it is not excluded from the requirement for an environmental 
analysis conducted during the earliest planning phases. If that analysis 
shows that the action deviates from the criteria for exclusion and it is 
concluded that there may be significant environmental effects, an 
environmental assessment must be carried out. Based upon that 
assessment, a determination must then be made whether or not to prepare 
an environmental impact statement.

[44 FR 44485, July 30, 1979, as amended at 53 FR 9761, Mar. 25, 1988]