The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has prepared a Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for utility projects that restore function and mitigate impacts from severe weather, flooding, wildfire, and other natural hazards within the State of North Dakota.
The notice is being published pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), FEMA Instruction 108-1-1, and other applicable environmental laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, Endangered Species Act, Executive Orders 12898 and 14096 (Environmental Justice), 11990 (Protection of Wetlands), and 11988 (Floodplain Management) because the proposed action has the potential to affect historic, cultural, and archaeological resources; threatened and endangered species; low-income and minority populations; floodplains; and wetlands.
In accordance with Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 C.F.R. § 1500.4(k) and 1501.11), the PEA identifies, by project type, the potential adverse and beneficial effects associated with utility improvement hazard mitigation projects. The review of subsequent site-specific grant applications may be streamlined by tiering from the PEA to reference summary details regarding project types, alternatives, and effects and to emphasize details specific to a proposed action. The PEA will allow FEMA to focus site-specific reviews on a narrower scope and to eliminate repetitive analysis.
The comment period will conclude 30 days after the initial publication of this Public Notice. To provide comments on the scope of the PEA please contact Richard Myers at FEMA Region 8 by email at fema-r8ehp@fema.dhs.gov and include ‘North Dakota Utilities PEA’ in the subject line, or by U.S. Postal Service to Denver Federal Center, Building 710, Box 25267, Denver, Colorado 80225-0267 Attn: Richard Myers.