The FAA wants requirements under 13 laws, from the Endangered Species Act to the Clean Water Act, to stop applying to commercial space licences
The list is numbered, and it runs to 13 entries.
It sits inside a notice of proposed rulemaking the Federal Aviation Administration filed for public inspection at 4:15 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on Thursday. The agency proposes to use an authority in the Commercial Space Launch Act, at 51 U.S.C. 50905(b)(2)(C), which lets the Secretary of Transportation prescribe by regulation that a requirement of a law of the United States is not a requirement for a licence or permit, after consulting the head of the appropriate executive agency, where the Secretary decides the requirement is not necessary to protect public health and safety, safety of property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.
The 13, in the order the document lists them: the National Environmental Policy Act; section 303(f) of the Department of Transportation Act; the Endangered Species Act; the Clean Water Act; the Coastal Zone Management Act; the Clean Air Act; the National Historic Preservation Act; the Marine Mammal Protection Act; the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act; the Noise Control Act of 1972; the Rivers and Harbors Act; and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.
What it covers
Four authorisations. Licences to operate a launch site under 14 CFR part 420, licences to operate a reentry site under part 433, experimental permits under part 437, and licences to operate a launch or reentry vehicle under part 450. Each of those is currently a major federal action under NEPA, which triggers an environmental review, and the existing rules require an applicant either to prepare an environmental assessment, to take financial responsibility for an environmental impact statement, or to support a written re-evaluation of an earlier one.
The proposal then goes further than the licence itself. It would apply the same treatment to the issuance, renewal or modification of a chapter 509 licence or experimental permit, to airspace closures authorised under FAA Order 7400.2R, to unconditional or mixed airport layout plan approvals where the FAA holds that authority, and to the lease of land to an operator from a federal site.
The document explains why it reaches that far, and the reasoning is worth quoting in substance rather than paraphrasing away. Many launches happen at federal sites operated by NASA or the Department of the Air Force, and an operator must first sign a property agreement with the custodian. That agreement is itself often a major federal action. Waiving NEPA only for the FAA's licensing, the agency writes, would merely shift responsibility for the review from one executive agency to another.
Where it comes from
The proposal is grounded in Executive Order 14335, "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry", signed on August 13, 2025 and published at 90 FR 40219. Section 3(a) of that order directs the FAA to explore all available authorities to eliminate or expedite environmental reviews and other obstacles to launch and reentry licensing.
The FAA also leans on the Supreme Court. It quotes Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, decided in 2025, describing NEPA as having become "a blunt and haphazard tool" in the hands of project opponents, and says that just as the Court identified a need for a course correction in judicial review of the statute, the agency has identified one in how the statute is applied to space licensing.
Comments are due 30 days after publication, under docket FAA-2026-8614. The FAA says it will consult the heads of the appropriate executive agencies, including the Council on Environmental Quality, while the rulemaking is pending.
