Attorney General Bonta Calls for Comprehensive Environmental Impact Reviews of Commercial Drone Delivery Operations

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a multistate coalition of 17 attorneys general and one county from Texas in sending a comment letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding its Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (Draft PEA) for commercial drone package delivery throughout the United States. The draft - issued under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - does not adequately analyze the environmental impacts of the FAA's expansion of commercial drone package delivery operations. In the comment letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition assert that the draft PEA is a largely symbolic paper exercise that fails to adequately consider the environmental risks - like smoke and fire incidents associated with malfunctioning lithium batteries in drones - that may result from a more expansive rollout of drone delivery operations.

"California invites cutting-edge innovation, but it also requires more than an empty gesture when it comes to protecting our environment," said Attorney General Bonta. "The FAA's draft assessment is a half-completed attempt at analyzing drone programs that could have environmental impacts across the nation. I urge the Trump Administration to complete a thorough environmental impact statement."

The FAA anticipates that drones will soon deliver all types of packages, ranging from food to children's medicine. So far, deliveries are already happening in states ranging from California to Arkansas and Florida to Utah. These operations generally occur under 400 feet of altitude with packages that weigh less than five pounds. Packages are delivered via rope dropped down from the drone to a delivery location, dropped from a hover height, or by full stop landing. Currently, the FAA is proposing to approve amending its regulations to allow drones to conduct commercial package delivery as an "air carrier." The amendment would allow for package delivery by drones weighing as much as 110 pounds, traveling at speeds of 68 miles per hour, and having as many as 16 propellers.

The current draft PEA provides a cursory overview of drone package deliveries generally to occur anywhere in the United States at future points in time without meaningful contextual information about the impacted environment. It contemplates a dramatic expansion of package delivery by drones nationwide, but does not address the potential safety risks tied to lithium batteries in drones stored in large numbers that are not subject to continuous human monitoring and may lead to delays in emergency response in the event of an explosion or fire. Without basic information, it is impossible to conclude that the FAA's regulatory amendment will have no significant environmental impact. NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the "reasonably foreseeable environmental effects of the proposed agency action." In doing so, the agency must take a hard look at the environmental impacts. Despite that, the draft PEA is a largely meaningless paper exercise, devoid of reliable qualitative or quantitative analyses. Thus, the multistate coalition argues that the FAA must prepare a more comprehensive environmental impact statement analyzing the true scope of impacts that may result from a more expansive rollout of drone operations.

In the comment letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition assert that the draft PEA:

• Arbitrarily dilutes the potential environmental impacts and cannot support a finding of no significant impact.
• Proposes an inadequate scope of mitigation measures and fails to assess all foreseeable effects.
• Does not analyze a reasonable range of alternatives.
• Fails to account for known potential environmental and safety impacts from drone operation under active consideration by the FAA.
• Has not addressed or mitigated risks related to lithium-ion batteries and other hazardous or sensitive materials.
• Has not addressed potential national security concerns related to drone operators' navigation software.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to ensuring robust environmental assessments and protections. He has led a multistate coalition in opposing reduced federal protections for our nation's waterways and co-led a multistate coalition in opposing proposed rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act. He also led a separate multistate coalition in opposing proposed federal rulemaking that would ease restrictions on highly potent greenhouse gas emissions.

In sending this letter, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Harris County, Texas.