Attorney General Bonta Sues Trump Administration Over Flawed Environmental Assessment for Commercial Drone Delivery Operations

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit challenging the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) insufficient evaluation of the environmental consequences of commercial drone package delivery. Drone operations are subject to environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the FAA violated the law's requirement to take a hard look at the environmental consequences that may result from a more expansive rollout of drone delivery operations.

"When it comes to cutting-edge innovation, the Trump Administration should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. As the fourth largest economy in the world - built in large part on technological innovation and a commitment to protecting our communities - California is proving that an economic future doesn't need to come at the cost of our environment. Allowing states to be responsive to innovation while still protecting our planet serves both industry and consumers," said Attorney General Bonta. "Unfortunately, FAA's programmatic environmental assessment falls far short of properly analyzing the environmental impacts that drone package delivery operations may have. At the California Department of Justice, we to stand firm that environmental justice and thoughtful innovation can and should go hand in hand. We will continue to uphold laws such as NEPA as a cornerstone of both."

BACKGROUND

So far, drone delivery operations are already happening in states ranging from California to Arkansas and Florida to Utah. In 2022, Amazon initiated Prime Air deliveries in Lockeford, California and now seeks to expand those operations to additional cities like Tracy, California. 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.

FAA purported to comply with NEPA by issuing a Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) and Finding of No Significant Impact, and Record of Decision. The PEA provides an overview of nationwide drone package deliveries to occur at future points in time without meaningful contextual information about the impacted communities or environment. It contemplates a dramatic expansion of package delivery by drones but does not adequately address the potential safety risks or other environmental impacts. 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 PEA fails to adequately consider the environmental risks. Thus, Attorney General Bonta and the multistate coalition today filed a lawsuit challenging the FAA's PEA, Finding of No Significant Impact, and Record of Decision for commercial drone package delivery.

Attorney General Bonta joins the lawsuit along with 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.