Article 67: Environmental and Historic Preservation Requirements

(Category: environmental-and-historical-compliance)

Article Summary

This article serves as a central statutory repository, detailing the primary cross-cutting federal environmental laws and Executive Orders that govern FEMA’s federal actions, ensuring Public Assistance grants do not degrade national resources.

• Core Preservation Statutes: AIRFA (Religious Freedom), AHPA/ARPA (Archaeological Resources), NHPA (Historic Preservation), NAGPRA (Graves/Repatriation).
• Resource Protection Laws: CAA (Air), CWA (Water), CZMA (Coastal Zones), CBRA (Coastal Barriers), ESA (Endangered Species), FPPA (Farmland), FWCA (Fish and Wildlife), WSRA (Rivers), WA (Wilderness).
• Fiduciary Conservation: RCRA (Waste control).
• Executive Orders: EO 11988 (Floodplain), EO 11990 (Wetlands), EO 12898 (Environmental Justice), EO 13007 (Indian Sacred Sites), EO 13690 (Flood Risk).

Five Key Takeaways for CTA FEMA Compliance

1. Enforce Multi-Law Compliance Mapping: Build an internal compliance checklist for every project worksheet that maps the scope of work to all relevant statutes, rather than focusing only on NEPA.
2. Trigger Native Consultations Early: Flag any project involving ground disturbance near known tribal interest areas to satisfy AIRFA, NAGPRA, and EO 13007 mandates.
3. Coordinate Flood Risk under EO 13690: Evaluate permanent construction projects against the elevated Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) profiles established by EO 13690.
4. Enforce Strict Artifact Stop-Work Protocols: Ensure all excavation contracts contain mandatory clauses to halt work and preserve the site if subsurface historical artifacts are exposed.
5. Review the Baseline Resource Preservation Lists: Use this comprehensive legislative list as a training matrix for recovery teams to prevent unpermitted work from causing a total grant disallowance.

‍