This page lists the U.S. National Science Foundation's current environmental reviews of its potential investments.
For proposed actions, NSF complies with environmental and historic preservation laws such as the "National Environmental Policy Act" (NEPA), the "National Historic Preservation Act," and the "Endangered Species Act," among others. NSF considers and, as appropriate, addresses potential environmental impacts such as effects on biological, historic and cultural resources, including tribal resources.
On this page
NSF NEPA information
In compliance with the amended NEPA and the recently revised Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA implementing regulations, NSF is updating the NSF NEPA implementing regulations located at 45 CFR Part 640. When finalized, the revised regulations will be posted on this webpage.
NSF has a process for internally evaluating environmental impacts associated with its proposed actions, this process is generally described in the Proposals and Awards Policies and Procedures Guide (Chapter II.D.2.i(iv) and Chapter XI.K).
In alignment with the CEQ NEPA implementing regulations, NSF will make available upon request determinations of proposed actions that were categorically excluded from further environmental review, notwithstanding extraordinary circumstances.
Additional changes to this website may be forthcoming as NSF conforms with the new CEQ NEPA implementing regulations.
Current environmental reviews
Thirty Meter Telescope
NSF is considering a potential future investment in the construction and operations of an Extremely Large Telescope in the Northern Hemisphere: the Thirty Meter Telescope.