Environmental and Historic Preservation

• When multiple federal agencies are conducting, funding or permitting projects in the same area, FEMA coordinates as early as possible to streamline EHP review and avoid conflicting standards.
• Example: public housing agencies can receive PA funding; FEMA EHP coordinates with HUD on the environmental and historic review.
• Unified Federal Review: offers more coordination between FEMA and other agencies and higher-level resolution when they reach an impasse.
• Heritage Emergency National Task Force: a FEMA and Smithsonian partnership of 60-plus members that helps protect cultural and historic resources, supports private nonprofit cultural institutions such as museums, libraries and historical societies, advises on conservators, and evaluates scopes of work for treating objects.

Information on other federal agencies funding, supporting or permitting work in the same area or on the same project, and for cultural institutions, details of collections and objects needing treatment.

• Floodplains and wetlands: PA projects must conform to 44 CFR Part 9. You review whether proposed actions are in a floodplain or wetland, and FEMA completes the 8-step process for those that are or may affect one. Document alternatives you considered. If the floodplain or wetland is the only practicable location, avoid or minimize impacts and meet any stricter federal, state or local standards (see Chapter 8).
• Coastal Barrier Resources Act: projects in a CBRS unit are eligible only under a Section 6 exception and FEMA’s CBRA rules, with Fish and Wildlife consultation. Work in or next to an “otherwise protected area” does not require that consultation.
• Clean Water Act: you must obtain Section 401 water quality certification and Section 402 NPDES permits whenever there is work in waterways or possible discharge of pollutants, including sediment. FEMA typically conditions approval on obtaining them.
• Section 404: you must obtain a permit, declare a non-reporting nationwide permit, or document that none is required, for discharging dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands. Common triggers: dredging or filling wetlands, culvert or bridge replacements, shoreline revetments, embankment armoring, dock and pier repairs, and beach renourishment.

Documentation of alternative locations and actions you considered for work in a floodplain or wetland; any Section 401 water quality certification, Section 402 NPDES permit, Section 404 permit, or notice of using a non-reporting nationwide permit; or documentation that no permit is required.

• NEPA: FEMA must consider effects of proposed actions and alternatives on the human environment before deciding. An environmental assessment ends in a finding of no significant impact, or a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
• NHPA Section 106: FEMA assesses whether PA work affects historic properties (buildings, structures, sites including archaeology, objects and districts) and consults the SHPO or THPO and other parties, including you, to resolve adverse effects. Programmatic agreements streamline this.
• ESA Section 7: FEMA reviews PA projects for effects on listed species and critical habitat and consults the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service if there may be an effect. Consultation may add project conditions you must follow.
• Other laws may apply depending on location and work, including the Coastal Zone Management Act, RCRA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (see Appendix D).

Information on historic properties (age, renovations, listings) for Section 106 consultation; any species or habitat information for ESA review; and records showing you followed project conditions such as timing restrictions or construction practices.

• Provide a complete and clear scope of work to minimize clarification requests.
• Provide maps or sketches, photos, site plans and descriptions of pre-disaster conditions and the proposed or completed work.
• Obtain necessary permits and authorizations before construction.
• Provide pre-existing permits and authorizations; FEMA may be able to expedite review based on them.
• Keep copies of all correspondence with federal or state agencies about permits and attach them to the grant application.
• Follow permit and authorization conditions and best management practices, and verify conditions were met if the work is complete.

Maps, sketches, photos and site plans of pre-disaster conditions and the work; existing permits and authorizations; copies of all correspondence with federal and state agencies, attached to the grant application; and records showing permit conditions and best management practices were met.

• Higher-risk permanent work examples: upsizing culverts, replacing or relocating a bridge, changes to historic buildings, rebuilding boardwalks or piers, relocating or burying utility lines, beach renourishment, relocating to undisturbed land, repairing substantially damaged structures in the floodplain, and new facilities.
• Original facility: for alternate and alternative procedures projects, if you don’t repair, replace or sell the damaged facility and it is unsafe, you must make it safe and secure (restrict access, lock it, fence it) or demolish it.
• Salvage proceeds reduce capped funding by the value of salvaged materials, less the cost to demolish, grade or secure.
• If PA funds pay for work at the original site, FEMA reviews it for EHP. If not, you must coordinate with SHPO/THPO, Fish and Wildlife, NMFS or the Corps as needed, document it, and consider their recommended measures, at your own cost unless directly related to restoring disaster damage.
• A facility kept for later use stays eligible in future incidents only if you repaired it to current codes, completed required mitigation and maintained the required insurance.

For changes in size, location or alignment: design plans and any agency consultations. For alternate and alternative procedures projects that leave the original facility: documentation of coordination with SHPO/THPO, Fish and Wildlife, NMFS or the Corps of Engineers, and the agreed measures; or records showing the original facility was secured or demolished.

• All emergency work: statutory exclusions exempt most emergency actions from NEPA review, but compliance with ESA, NHPA, RCRA, state solid waste laws, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and Executive Orders 11988 and 13112 is still required.
• Debris removal: must avoid impacts to floodplains, wetlands, listed species and critical habitat, and historic properties (including underwater archaeology in waterways), and avoid hazardous gas release and water supply contamination. Stage debris at a safe distance from property lines, surface water, floodplains, wetlands, structures, wells and septic leach fields. Waterway debris, stump removal and fill may need more coordination. Staging sites may need remediation afterward.
• Emergency protective measures: where possible, avoid impacts to listed species, critical habitat and historic properties, and consider floodplain and wetland impacts.
• FEMA encourages coordination before work in areas with natural and cultural resources. Completed work still needs documentation to show compliance.
• Higher-risk examples: burning debris, waterway and shoreline debris removal, mold remediation, mosquito abatement, temporary roads, levees and berms, demolition, temporary facilities, and temporary coastal work.

Debris staging and disposal site locations and permits, any state or local conditions you followed, site remediation records for staging areas, and for completed emergency work, documentation showing compliance after the fact.

• All projects get an EHP review; timeframes vary by project type.
• Streamlined reviews rely on programmatic agreements and consultations with predetermined compliance decisions for repeated, similar work.
• Projects that may affect natural and cultural resources need more information and longer review, often with consultation or coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, EPA, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, State or Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, and local, state or territorial agencies.
• When consultation is needed, the regulatory agency sets the timeline.
• Flood hazard area work includes the regulatory floodway and 1% annual chance floodplain, or for critical actions, the 0.2% annual chance floodplain.

For complex projects: the information above plus anything the regulatory agencies request during consultation, such as surveys, studies and permit applications.

• FEMA requires information about the scope of work to support the EHP review. Providing the commonly triggered items in the table during project formulation keeps the review moving.
• If more information is needed, FEMA issues a request for information (see Chapter 2).
• Raise concerns and scope changes with your PA and EHP specialists early; complete and accurate information shortens the time to obligation.

See the table: locations and GPS for all work sites, ground disturbance dimensions, materials and equipment, construction and renovation dates, staging and debris disposal sites, work dates, fill sources, maps and photos, plans and drawings, studies, and permits and agency correspondence.

• PA projects must comply with FEMA Directive 108-1 and all applicable EHP laws, regulations and executive orders, and address adverse impacts by avoiding, minimizing or compensating for them.
• EHP specialists review your scope of work and supporting documents to understand the work, its locations (including staging areas) and what natural or cultural resources may be affected.
• Findings go in a REC included in every project. The REC records the categorical or statutory exclusion that applies, the compliance determinations, and any project conditions.
• For completed or partly completed work, you must document compliance with project-specific conditions, for example permits, certifications and post-construction surveys.
• At the start of each declaration, EHP prepares a “greensheet” with EHP information for the designated areas.
• Review timeframes vary with the scope, resources affected, public notice and consultations with regulatory agencies.

A complete scope of work with locations (including equipment and material staging), plus the record of environmental consideration (REC) for each project and proof you met every condition it lists.