The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.

To meet NEPA requirements federal agencies are to prepare detailed statements assessing the environmental impact of and alternatives to major federal actions significantly affecting the environment.  The general process is called an Environmental Assessment (EA).  EAs are concise documents that provide decision makers and the public with information about the potential for impacts due to the proposed action. NOAA has completed a final EA for our project.

The main goal of an EA is to determine if the impacts of the proposed action are likely to be significant. If there is potential for significant impacts, then an Environmental Impact Statement will need to be prepared. If the impacts of an action are not expected to be significant, a ‘Finding Of No Significant Impact’ or FONSI is prepared.  Based on our detailed EA, NOAA has determined that the proposed actions are not expected to be significant and a FONSI has been issued for our project.