(a) NASA shall prepare an environmental impact statement for actions that are likely to significantly impact the quality of the human environment, including actions for which an environmental assessment demonstrates that significant environmental impacts will potentially occur which will not be reduced or eliminated by changes to the proposed action or mitigation of its potentially significant environmental impacts. Whether an impact rises to the level of “significant” is a matter of NASA's expert judgment. An environmental impact statement shall be prepared and published in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 4332(C) and § 1216.601.

(b) NASA actions normally requiring an environmental impact statement include:

(1) Development and operation of new NASA-developed launch vehicles or space transportation systems.

(2) Management, including recovery, transport, and curation, of sample returns to Earth from solar system bodies (such as asteroids, comets, planets, dwarf planets, and planetary moons) that would receive a Restricted Earth Return categorization. NASA requires such a mission to include additional measures to ensure any potential indigenous life form would be contained so it could not adversely impact humans or Earth's environment.

(3) Substantial construction projects expected to result in significant adverse effect(s) on the quality of the human and natural environment when such construction and its effects are not within the scope of an existing master plan.

(c) During the process of preparing an environmental impact statement, NASA:

(1) Will obtain the comments of:

(i) Any Federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact of the action or project at hand or is authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards that govern the action or project at hand.

(ii) Appropriate State, Tribal, and local agencies that are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards.

(2) May request the comments of:

(i) State, Tribal, or local governments that may be affected by the proposed action.

(ii) Any agency that has requested it receive statements on actions of the kind proposed.

(iii) The non-Federal project sponsor, if any.

(iv) The public, including by affirmatively soliciting comments in a manner designed to inform those persons or organizations who may be interested in or affected by the proposed action.

(d) The process of obtaining and requesting comments in paragraph (c) of this section may be undertaken at any time that is reasonable in the process of preparing the environmental impact statement. NASA will ensure that the process of obtaining and requesting comments, and NASA's analysis of and response to those comments, does not cause NASA to violate the congressionally mandated deadline for completion of an environmental impact statement.

(e) NASA will address any substantive comments received consistent with paragraph (c) of this section in the environmental impact statement. Based on substantive comments and/or recommendations, NASA may consider such responses by:

(1) Modifying alternatives, including the proposed action.

(2) Developing and evaluating alternatives not previously considered.

(3) Supplementing, improving, or modifying analyses, to include consideration of science or literature not previously considered.

(4) Making factual corrections.

(5) The agency may provide brief rationale for taking no action, such as:

(i) The comment is outside the scope of what is being proposed.

(ii) There is no cause-effect relationship between the actions the agency is proposing and the issue raised and/or recommendation made.

(iii) The commenter misinterpreted the information provided.

(iv) The recommendation made does not comply with applicable laws or regulations and/or is not technically or economically feasible to implement.

(v) The comment was received outside the timeframe provided for such comments.

The environmental impact statement will include the purpose and need for the proposed agency action based on NASA's statutory authority. When the proposed agency action concerns a non-Federal project sponsor, the purpose and need for the proposed agency action will also be informed by the goals of the non-Federal project sponsor.

(a) The environmental impact statement will include a detailed statement on:

(1) A reasonable range of alternatives to the proposed agency action, including an analysis of any adverse environmental impacts of not implementing the proposed agency action in the case of a no action alternative, that are, in NASA's expert judgment, technically and economically feasible and meet the purpose and need of the proposal.

(2) Reasonably foreseeable environmental effects of the proposed agency action and alternatives including the no action alternative.

(3) Any reasonably foreseeable adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented.

(4) The relationship between local short-term uses of the human environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity.

(5) Any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of Federal resources which would be involved in the proposed agency action should it be implemented.

(6) Any means identified to mitigate adverse environmental effects of the proposed action. NASA is mindful in this respect that NEPA itself does not require or authorize NASA to impose any mitigation measures in environmental impact statements.

(b) The environmental impact statement will define a scope of analysis.

(1) In preparing the environmental impact statement, NASA will focus its analysis on whether the environmental effects of the action or project at hand are significant.

(2) Similarly, NASA will document in the environmental impact statement where and how it drew a reasonable and manageable line relating to its consideration of any environmental effects from the action or project at hand that extend outside the geographical territory of the project or might materialize later in time.

(c) Environmental impact statements will discuss effects in proportion to their significance. With respect to issues that are not of a substantive nature, lack a close causal connection, and do not meaningfully inform the consideration of environmental effects and the resulting decision on how to proceed, there will be no more than the brief possible discussion to explain why those issues are not substantive and therefore not worthy of any further analysis. Environmental impact statements will be analytic, concise, and no longer than necessary to comply with NEPA considering the congressionally mandated page limits and deadlines.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, the text of an environmental impact statement will not exceed 150 pages, not including citations, appendices, explanatory maps, diagrams, graphs, tables, and other means of graphically displaying quantitative or geospatial information.

(b) An environmental impact statement for a proposed agency action of extraordinary complexity is strictly prohibited from exceeding 300 pages, not including any citations, appendices, explanatory maps, diagrams, graphs, tables, and other means of graphically displaying quantitative or geospatial information. NASA will determine at the earliest possible stage of preparation of an environmental impact statement whether the conditions for exceeding the page limit in paragraph (a) of this section are present.

(c) Appendices are to be used for voluminous materials, such as scientific tables, collections of data, statistical calculations, and the like, which substantiate the analysis provided in the environmental impact statement. Appendices are not to be used to provide additional substantive analysis, because that would circumvent the congressionally mandated page limits.

(d) Environmental impact statements will be prepared on 8.5″ x 11″ paper with one-inch margins using a word processor with 12-point proportionally spaced font, single spaced. Footnotes may be in 10-point font. Such size restrictions do not apply to explanatory maps, diagrams, graphs, tables, and other means of graphically displaying quantitative or geospatial information, although pages containing such material do count towards the page limit when an item of graphical material is larger than 8.5″ x 11″, each such item will count as one page.

(e) The breadth and depth of analysis in an environmental impact statement will be tailored to ensure that the environmental impact statement does not exceed these page limits. In this regard, as part of the finalization of the environmental impact statement, a certification will be incorporated into the environmental impact statement certifying that NASA has considered the factors mandated by NEPA; that the environmental impact statement represents NASA's good-faith effort to prioritize documentation of the most important considerations required by the statute within the congressionally mandated page limits; that this prioritization reflects NASA's expert judgment; and that any considerations addressed briefly or left unaddressed were, in NASA's judgment, comparatively unimportant or frivolous.

(a) NASA will complete the final environmental impact statement not later than the date that is two years after the date on which NASA provides notice of intent on a public-facing website that an environmental impact statement will be prepared.

(b) The environmental impact statement will be published (unless the deadline is extended) on the day the deadline elapses, in as substantially complete form as is possible.

(c) If NASA determines it cannot meet the deadline prescribed by NEPA sec. 107(g)(1)(A), 42 U.S.C. 4336a(g)(1)(A), it must consult with the non-Federal project sponsor, if any, pursuant to NEPA sec. 107(g)(2), 42 U.S.C. 4336a(g)(2). After such consultation, if needed, it may establish a new deadline. Cause for establishing a new deadline is only established if the environmental impact statement is so incomplete, at the time at which NASA determines it cannot meet the statutory deadline, that issuance would, in NASA's view, result in an inadequate analysis. Such new deadline must provide only so much additional time as is necessary to complete such environmental impact statement. The announcement of the new deadline will specify the reason why the environmental impact statement was not able to be completed under the statutory deadline and whether the non-Federal project sponsor, if any, consented to the new deadline.

(d) When the environmental impact statement is published, a certification will be incorporated into the environmental impact statement certifying that the resulting environmental impact statement represents NASA's good-faith effort to fulfill NEPA's requirements within the congressional timeline; that such effort is substantially complete; and that, in NASA's expert opinion, it has thoroughly considered the factors mandated by NEPA; and that, in NASA's judgment, the analysis contained therein is adequate to inform and reasonably explain NASA's final decision regarding the proposed Federal action.

NASA will publish the entire environmental impact statement and record of decision on a public-facing NASA website. During the process of preparing the environmental impact statement, NASA may publish such draft, pre-decisional materials as in its judgment may assist in fulfilling its responsibilities under NEPA and this subpart. NASA will also file with EPA as required under § 1216.701.