Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the Funding, Procurement, and Operation of NOAA Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS)

The OAR UxS Research Transition Office's proposed action is funding, procurement, and operation of small UAS, in any environment for which NOAA has a mission and potential need for UAS resources to help meet related mission objectives, with operations up to altitudes of 100,000 ft MSL.
Update 7/3/23: The Uncrewed Systems Research Transition Office (UxSRTO) in the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is often directly or indirectly involved in the funding, procurement, and operation of small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems during the course of its normal office functions. This PEA evaluates the potential impacts on the environment from the types of small UAS platforms and operations commonly supported by the UxSRTO across NOAA, in any environment for which NOAA has a mission and potential need for UAS resources to help meet related mission objectives. The proposed action is not considered to meaningfully contribute to a significant impact based on the scale of operations and type of effects, it will not meaningfully contribute to significant impacts to specific resources, and it is not connected to other actions that have caused or may cause effects to the resources in affected areas.