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The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 requires that the Federal Government conduct an environmental review of its proposed projects. NOAA manages its NEPA program within the NOAA Office of Policy and Strategic Planning (OSP). Coordination is performed between the OSP, the Program Office (the one with the project) and the Regional Environmental Compliance Officer (RECO). Implementation and guidance documents for NOAA's NEPA process can be found at this link: NOAA's NEPA WEB SITE. If you have any problems with this link, please call the OSP, directly on 301- 713 - 1622. |
Climate
Reference Network Program NOAA NESDIS National Climatic Data Center Asheville, NC NEPA Documents
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Environmental review begins with the need for a project and consideration of all alternatives, including the No-Action Alternative. The Climate Reference Network Program (CRN) will provide future long-term high quality observations of surface air temperature and precipitation that can be coupled to past long-term observations for the detection and attribution of present and future climate change. The Network will consist of about 500 instrument stations nationwide. |
Our NEPA steps and actions for this project are presented here. First, the NCDC defined the purpose, need and the product. The NOAA OSP, the RECO and OGC reviewed the program and how to approach the project environmental analyses. Given that each individual site has not been selected and can be changed early on in the decision making, if it were determined to not negatively impact the environment, we made the decision that the project products fit into the NOAA Administration Order as a categorical exclusion under the research category. During this project deployment, a field team makes site recommendations to the Program Manager. The Program Manager chooses the sites for instrument installation. The initial site surveys for each location reflect any environmental issues and potential areas of concern. The program manager has the latitude to select out any areas which may impact the environment in a negative way. Then, site selection becomes rigid, in terms of meeting the ability to collect quality climate data over a long duration and the ease of access to power. This approach to NEPA is reflected in a Memorandum: NEPA Review for Proposed CRN, dated 2.15.02.
To ensure that each site is reviewed for all the project criteria, including environmental, a Site Survey Checklist (SSC) is used. This checklist also specifies that NOAA will receive a copy of any environmental review performed by the landowner, such as another Federal Agency, if their site is considered. The SSC also has been modified to include environmental protocol for maintenance; For example - Recycling of antifreeze used in the rain gages, recycling of the batteries when they are changed out, ' green' grass cutting, and the minimum use of herbicides.
The checklists from the field are coupled with photographs.
The NOAA NEPA Checklist is completed for each site. A decision is made
to create a site license agreement, authorizing the government to use
approximately 60' x 60' area of land for installation of instruments.
This agreement includes routine and emergency access. The NEPA Checklist
(e-file), SSC and the original, signed SLA are sent to the Support Center.
The RECO reviews the checklist and site selection. Concurrence is
recorded and e-copies are sent to OSP and the CRN Program Office.
The original is filed at the NRC, NEPA book, with a copy retained in Asheville.
References:
NCDC
CRN Network Design
NCDC
CRN Site Information Handbook