DRAFT
FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT
Flint River Flood Mitigation Project 
Saginaw County, Michigan
FEMA-DR-1346-MI, NEMIS ID #A1346.53

The Flint River Erosion Control Board in Saginaw County, Michigan, has applied for HMGP Section 404 funding under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.  Grant funds are provided by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under this program for disaster-related mitigation projects.  The purpose of the Proposed Action is to prevent damages associated with the 10-year storm event along an eight-mile stretch of the Flint River in Albee, Spaulding, and Taymouth Townships in Saginaw County, Michigan. The project would reduce or prevent damages to the residences, agricultural land, roads, and infrastructure from overland flooding. The need for this project is to reduce the risk to human health and safety associated with flooding, and to minimize the economic loss and hardship to the community from the costs associated with repeated flood damages. The Proposed Action would involve construction of flood mitigation measures at seven individual locations along Flint River and would include the reconstruction of existing earthen dikes and construction of a floodway shelf, a storage reservoir, and two wetland areas.  
In accordance with 44 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for FEMA, Subpart B – Agency Implementing Procedures, Part 10.9, an Environmental Assessment (EA) was prepared pursuant to Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as implemented by the regulations promulgated by the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508).  The purpose of the EA was to analyze the potential environmental impacts for the Plaster Creek Flood Mitigation project and to determine whether to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

Based upon the conditions and information contained in the EA for the Flint River Flood Mitigation Project (April 2006) and in accordance with FEMA’s regulations in 44 CFR Part 10 (Environmental Considerations) and Executive Orders 11988 (Floodplain Management), 11990 (Protection of Wetlands), and 12898 (Environmental Justice), FEMA concluded the following:
A Finding of No Significant Impact. The proposed project, as described in the EA, will not result in any significant adverse impacts to existing land use, water resources (surface water, groundwater, wetlands, waters of the United States, and floodplains), air quality, noise, biological resources (vegetation, fish and wildlife, state-and federally listed threatened or endangered species and critical habitats), safety issues, hazardous materials and waste, and cultural resources, or result in disproportionately high or adverse effects on minority or low-income populations.  Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared.

APPROVAL



___________________________________	 Date:	__________________________
Ms. Jeanne Millin
Regional Environmental Officer
FEMA, Region V






Finding of No Significant Impact
Flint River Flood Mitigation Project, Grand Rapids, Michigan