Drone Package Deliveries in the US

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces the availability of and requests comments on the draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as related to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) (drone) package delivery operations in the United States.

To support the environmental review process for UAS package delivery proposals throughout the United States (U.S.), the FAA has prepared this PEA in accordance with NEPA, FAA Order 1050.1G, and USDOT Order 5610.1D.

The FAA intends to use this PEA to comply with its NEPA requirements for subsequent requests for authorizations from individual drone operators proposing to conduct package delivery operations in areas of the U.S. Upon receiving an authorization request, the FAA will evaluate the proposal against this PEA to determine if the proposal and its potential environmental impacts fall within the scope of this PEA. If the proposal falls outside the scope of this PEA, the FAA will conduct further environmental review, which could include preparing another NEPA document that tiers from this PEA.

The draft PEA is available to view and download electronically at https://www.faa.gov/uas/advanced_operations/nepa_and_drones/.

Comments on the Draft PEA may be submitted electronically to [email protected] . Written comments may be submitted via U.S. Mail to the address below. Please ensure adequate time for receipt.

Federal Aviation Administration, Suite 802W
C/O AVS Environmental
800 Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20591

All substantive comments received will be responded to in the Final EA.