Promoting compliance

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This directive is largely derived from the work of the NOAA Compliance Working Group,
including their NOAA Statutes Institutional Plan (which was never finalized). This memo
provides the way forward for managing these issues at NOAA, including establishment of a
successor working group.

DIRECTIVES TO PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE WITHIN THE
LINE OFFICES:
1. Establishment of the STATUTES Working Group: This directive establishes the
Support, Training And Technical Understanding of The Environmental Statutes
(STATUTES) Working Group. The STATUTES Working Group will be led by NMFS; its
scope and mission will be:
 Membership:
- all Line Office Environmental Compliance Leads;
- NOAA statute experts (at least one person for each NOAA statute - ESA, MMPA,
NMSA, and MSA2); and
- a representative from PPI with experience in NEPA.
 Training: the STATUTES Working Group will develop and provide training for
NOAA Line, Staff, and Program Offices.
 Issues: the STATUTES Working Group will serve as a forum for sharing
information, and raising and discussing environmental compliance issues as they
arise.
 Compliance Resources: the STATUTES Working Group will compile, assimilate,
and post environmental compliance resources on line.
2. Role of Line Office Compliance Leads: In accordance with the “Compliance with NOAA’s
Environmental Statutes” memorandum (April 19, 2012), LO leads must assist the AA in
executing the agreed-upon compliance steps for their respective office. This includes:
 actively ensuring compliance with the NOAA environmental statutes for all Program
Offices in their Line Office;
 developing and overseeing the plan/schedule for maintaining/bringing programs into
compliance;
 identifying potential compliance challenges and elevating those issues to the DAA or
AA as required; and
 maintaining regular and direct access to their AA in order to keep Line Office
leadership up-to-date on matters relevant to compliance with NOAA statutes.
3. Implementation of Best Management Practices: LOs must consider Best Management
Practices for reducing impacts to resources protected by the NOAA statutes listed above, as
appropriate for the mission or operation under consideration. The Environmental Impact
Avoidance and Mitigation Measures guidance document (attached as Attachment A) includes
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Specifically, staff with expertise in ESA section 7 interagency consultations and section 10 permits; MMPA
section 101 incidental take authorizations and section 104 directed take permits; NMSA sanctuary regulations for
permits and section 304(d) consultations; and MSA consultations for Essential Fish Habitat (EFH).

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a list of Best Management Practices that are broadly applicable to NOAA’s operations and
trust resources.
4. Present Compliance Progress at the NOAA Executive Panel (NEP): Deputy AAs must
present recent progress made by their Line Office to me on a quarterly basis during
scheduled meetings of the NEP. The specific issues to be addressed in these presentations are
provided in Attachment B.
5. Compliance Responsibilities for NOAA Programs onboard OMAO Platforms: When a
NOAA program makes use of an OMAO platform (ship, boat, aircraft, or other conveyance),
the NOAA program undertaking the mission (the “mission office”) will be responsible for
determining what steps are required for the proposed cruise to bring NOAA into compliance
with all applicable federal environmental laws, including the NOAA statutes listed above.
These steps may include, but are not limited to, securing permits or authorizations, or
completing formal or informal consultations.
The mission office will perform all necessary identified compliance steps, with input
provided by OMAO on any transiting, navigation, or other platform operations required to
support or conduct the mission in question.
Where possible (and in accordance with the application provisions of the applicable statutes),
permits, authorizations, and/or consultations will be jointly assigned to the appropriate
mission office staffer (often, the Chief Scientist) and to the OMAO Command3, who is
ultimately responsible for complying with permits/authorizations/consultations that govern
actions taken on the platform. Where joint assignment is not possible, all permits,
authorizations, and/or consultations will be physically delivered to the Command and this
transmittal will be acknowledged by Command signature.
The Action Office will discuss the permitting, authorization, and/or consultation process with
OMAO:
 In the ship time request;
 In the aircraft support request;
 In the Project Instructions; and
 As needed throughout the project implementation.
OMAO retains the sole responsibility for complying with all environmental statutes for those
transit operations that are not connected to a mission requirement from another Line Office.

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The term “Command” here means the Commanding Officer, Master, or any other term for the head of the OMAO
platform at issue, whether it be a vessel or an aircraft.

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Attachment A: Environmental Impact Avoidance and Mitigation Measures guidance
document