California Attorney General joined a multistate coalition Monday, Sept. 28, in a lawsuit challenging the Federal Aviation Administration’s evaluation of the environmental consequences of commercial drone package delivery, his office said.
The coalition is challenging the FAA’s Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment, Finding of No Significant Impact, and Record of Decision. The office said the assessment provides an overview of nationwide drone package deliveries without meaningful contextual information about the affected communities or environment, and contemplates a dramatic expansion of delivery by drones without adequately addressing potential safety risks or other environmental impacts.
The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to assess the “reasonably foreseeable environmental effects of the proposed agency action” and take a hard look at those impacts, according to the office, which said the FAA’s assessment falls short.
In California, Amazon began Prime Air deliveries in Lockeford in 2022 and now seeks to expand to cities such as Tracy, the office said. Those operations generally occur under 400 feet of altitude with packages weighing less than five pounds, delivered by rope from the drone, dropped from a hover height or by full stop landing.
“When it comes to cutting-edge innovation, the Trump Administration should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Bonta said. “Unfortunately, FAA's programmatic environmental assessment falls far short of properly analyzing the environmental impacts that drone package delivery operations may have.”
Bonta joined the attorneys general of New York, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as Harris County, Texas, in the suit.
State
Rob Bonta
Attorney General · Democrat
Named 2 times in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
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