The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 is the foundation of modern American environmental protection in the United States and its commonwealths, territories, and possessions. NEPA requires that federal agency decision makers, in carrying out their duties, use all practicable means to create and maintain conditions under which people and nature can exist in productive harmony and fulfill the social, economic, and other needs of present and future generations of Americans. NEPA provides a mandate and a framework for federal agencies to consider all reasonably foreseeable environmental effects of their proposed actions and to involve and inform the public in the decision-making process.

NOAA’s requirements for implementing NEPA may be found at https://www.nepa.noaa.gov.

NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) has prepared a discretionary Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to streamline NEPA compliance and to ensure consistency across the matrixed program. In an effort to continue increasing efficiency of environmental compliance, CRCP is pursuing programmatic approaches to compliance with several other statutes as well. As those processes are finalized, documentation will be added to the below list.

Publicly Available Documentation:

• Record of Decision
• Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)
• Federal Register Notice of Availability of a Final PEIS for CRCP
• Draft PEIS
• Federal Register Notice of Availability of a Draft PEIS for CRCP
• Federal Register Notice of Intent to Prepare a PEIS for CRCP

For more information, contact us.