The U.S. IOOS Office is responsible for completing requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act for each proposed action.  The act and its implementing regulations at 40 CFR 1500-1508 require federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions. If the act applies to the proposed action, the U.S. IOOS Office must determine whether to apply a Categorical Exclusion, or to prepare either an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement.

IOOS Programmatic Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act
On August 9, 2016, NOAA announced the availability of a Programmatic Environmental Assessment for U.S. IOOS Office activities. The assessment analyzed the potential environmental impacts associated with ocean observing activities including: 

• passive sensors and instrumentation
• vessels (including personal watercraft) and sampling
• autonomous underwater vehicles, gliders, and drifters
• moorings, marine stations, buoys, and fixed arrays
• high frequency radar
• sonar
• lidar

The U.S. IOOS Office prepared a Finding of No Significant Impact (June 2016) of the activities to the environmental resources within the U.S. IOOS regions (81 FR 52665). The Programmatic Environmental Assessment and associated Finding of No Significant Impact under the National Environmental Policy Act serve as a planning tool to support tiered, site-specific analyses by narrowing the spectrum of environmental impacts to focus on project-level reviews as needed.  The development of the Programmatic Environmental Assessment doesn’t preclude IOOS from developing other environmental analyses (e.g., categorical exclusion determination, supplemental environmental assessment, or environmental impact statement). The analysis for a particular action will depend upon the proposed project and its potential impacts.

For additional information on NEPA visit the NOAA NEPA website. 

The U.S. IOOS Office is responsible for completing requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act, but also under other federal laws for each proposed action. A list of the most common applicable federal laws and resources for complying with their requirements follow:

• Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act
  • General information
  • Eagle management
    
    
• Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act
  • Regulatory Program and Permits
  • USACE Locations
  • USACE Regulatory Boundary Mapper
  • Wetlands and Projects Mappers
    
    
• Coastal Barrier Resources Act
  • Overview and mappers
  • Federal Agency consultation process
    
    
• Coastal Zone Management Act
  • Applying Federal Consistency (includes the Federal Consistency Overview, the Quick Reference, and training)
  • State Federal Consistency Lists
    
    
• Endangered Species Act
  It has been determined that the U.S. IOOS Office observing activities as proposed in the Programmatic Environmental Assessment under NEPA would have negligible or no impact to environmental resources under the proposed action. The assessment provides a mitigation strategy to address any unique situations, on a site-specific basis, as more information becomes available (81 FR 52665). The U.S. IOOS Office proposed activities will need to be evaluated to ensure compliance with Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements.
  • Information for species under the NOAA Fisheries jurisdiction
    • Permits and Federal Agency ESA Section 7(a)(2) consultation
    • Species Directory / Threatened and Endangered Species
    • Species list and/or mappers by region
      • Alaska
      • Northeast
      • Southeast
      • West Coast
      • Pacific Islands
        • Species of American Samoa 
        • Species and Habitat of the Hawaiian Islands
        • Species of Mariana Islands
      • Great Lakes - There are no species under NOAA Fisheries jurisdiction in the Great Lakes. 
        
        
• Information for species under US Fish and Wildlife Service jurisdiction
  • Permits and Federal Agency ESA Section 7(a)(2) consultation
  • IPaC and Find a Species
    
    
• Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
  In parallel with the preparation of the draft and final Programmatic Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act, the U.S. IOOS Office initiated and completed a technical review consultation with National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Habitat Conservation regarding the essential fish habitat provision of the act. National Marine Fisheries Service provided a variety of recommendations and mitigation measures to reduce effects on essential fish habitats that would be associated, for example, with the installation and maintenance of moorings and buoys (Programmatic Environmental Assessment pages 4-8 and 4-21). The U.S. IOOS Office proposed activities will need to be evaluated to ensure compliance with Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requirements and recommendations.
  • MSA Section 305(b)(2)/Essential FIsh Habitat consultation process and mapper
    
    
• Marine Mammal Protection Act
  • Information for species under the NOAA Fisheries jurisdiction
    • Permits
    • Species Directory/Marine Mammals
  • Information for species under US Fish and Wildlife Service jurisdiction
    • Permits
    • IPaC and Find a Species
      
      
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act
  • General information 
    
    
• National Historic Preservation Act
  • Federal agency National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 consultation (regulations)
  • State Historic Preservation Officers Directory 
  • National Register of Historic Places
  • Tribal Leaders Directory (Bureau of Indian Affairs)
  • Tribal Directory Assessment Tool 
    
    
• National Marine Sanctuaries Act
  • Federal Agency National Marine Sanctuaries Act Section 304(d) consultation
  • Permits
  • Marine Protected Areas mapper
  • IOOS Sanctuary Watch

General mappers include the Marine Cadastre and NEPAssist.

The U.S. IOOS Office is responsible for managing the environmental review process for projects that receive financial assistance from the office. The environmental review must be completed prior to funding the proposed activities. It consists of determining the applicability of, and complying with, any applicable environmental law requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal statutes. 

Applicants are responsible for providing information requested by the U.S. IOOS Office that will assist the office in conducting the environmental review. The U.S. IOOS Office uses the Environmental Compliance Questionnaire for NOAA Notice of Federal Funding Opportunity Applicants (OMB Approval Number: 0648-0538, Expiration Date: 11/30/2024) for requesting information from applicants. The form is available at https://www.noaa.gov/nepa. A fillable version of the form is available for download here. Please include the NOFO/RFA or award number in the file name when submitting the document. For additional information contact the IOOS Environmental Compliance Coordinator.

Once compliance requirements have been completed by the U.S. IOOS Office, the recipient will be authorized to implement the proposed project activities unless there are other law requirements and/or conditions placed on the award that would restrict those activities. Applicants for U.S. IOOS Office financial assistance are responsible for complying with all applicable local, state and federal law requirements prior to implementing activities under the award. 

For information on the current U.S. IOOS Office notices of funding opportunities visit Funding Opportunities.