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| August 2005 | ||||||
  In this issue:♦ Proposed Changes to the National Historic Preservation Act and Section 106 ♦ Army Residential Communities Initiative, Hawaii ♦ Swainson's Hawk: Majestic, Acrobatic, Dependable ♦ California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act to Provide Some Liability Protection for Brownfield Developers ♦ Tips for Cumulative Impacts Analysis ♦ Spring Workshops Continue to Prove Popular ♦ Recent Contract Awards
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Question: Julie Answer:The EIS preparers should include a discussion of the process and an estimate of the greater level of effects possible, while documenting that the project may go to the ACHP for comment or resolution. The key is to document the Section 106 process and the adverse impacts that may happen, as well as any mitigation that the parties have already agreed on. If, for instance, the agency and the SHPO disagree on the eligibility of a historic property, the EIS preparers should acknowledge that this hasn't been established yet. But if the property is found to be eligible, the impact would be X and mitigation would be Y. The preparers should show that the agency commits to the 106 process and the use of feasible mitigation that would reduce the impacts on eligible properties, even if the specific properties haven't yet been determined or agreed on. |
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The US House of Representatives Resources Subcommittee on National Parks is considering changes to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1964, the law that established the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and which requires a discussion of the impacts of federal actions on such historic properties as archaeological sites, historic districts, and historic buildings. A discussion draft bill provides for several changes, including one that could significantly alter the Section 106 process, which requires federal agency planners to consider a project's effect on historic properties eligible for or listed on the NRHP. Eligibility determinations are made by consensus between agency or project archaeologists and the State Historic Preservation Officer. This system allows historic properties to be protected without requiring the agency or property owner to go through the costly and time-consuming process of formally nominating the property for the NRHP. Read on...
The Army is improving the quality and quantity of family housing available to soldiers in Hawaii through its Residential Communities Initiative (RCI) program, which creates partnerships with private developers for the management of family housing. Environmental documentati The project in Hawaii involves seven Army installations: Schofield Barracks, Helemanu Military Reservation, Wheeler Army Airfield, Aliamanu Military Reservation, Fort Shafter, Tripler Army Medical Center, and Kia‘i Kai Hale. Read on...
With a length of up to 22 inches and a wingspan of five feet or more, Swainson's hawks (Buteo swainsoni) can rightly be called majestic. In dramatic courtship and territorial displays Swainson's become aerial acrobats, with male hawks making lengthy free dives, and the males and females circling and interlinking talons, followed by tumbling. Additionally, this fascinating bird is dependable, forming long-term monogamous Tetra Tech biologists Jeanette Weisman and David Munro have been conducting surveys of Swainson's hawks in California's Central Valley. The hawks' population declined sharply in the twentieth century, due to a loss of breeding and wintering habitat and from ingesting pesticide-ladened insects. Consequently, California lists the hawks as threatened, and the US lists them as a species of concern protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Read on...  On January 1, 2005, the California Assembly passed the California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act (CLRRA) of 2004, which provided good-faith property purchasers with immunity from liability for certain hazardous materials response costs or other damages. Under CLRRA, the property and owner must meet all of the following criteria to qualify for the immunity: Read on...
As stakeholders and project opponents become more sophisticated, and NEPA compliance more complex, the focus of NEPA litigation is narrowing in on the issue of cumulative impact analysis. Courts and stakeholders are intensifying their scrutiny of cumulative impact analysis in many NEPA documents. In many recent decisions, the courts have urged federal agencies to improve the quality of their cumulative impact analyses. We've gathered some specific tips to help you prepare sound and defensible cumulative analyses. Read on...
It was standing room only at Tetra Tech's April workshops in Honolulu. Over fifty people attended one or more of the three courses we offered: the three-day NEPA workshop, the one-day natural resources workshop, and the half-day cumulative impacts workshop. Attendees came from Hawaii, as well as Alaska, California, and Wyoming and represented the US Army, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the US Air Force, the National Guard, and other agencies. Read on...
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