Environmental Assessment for John Law Ditch Flood Mitigation Project, Town of Windsor, Colorado (November 2012)

The Town of Windsor is applying for FEMA funding under Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Program Grant Application PDMC-PJ-08-CO-2011-003. Funding of flood hazard risk reduction projects by FEMA triggers the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S. Code [U.S.C.] §§ 4321–4327), which includes an evaluation by Federal agencies of the potential environmental impacts of Proposed Actions and a consideration of those impacts during the decision making process.  The Town of Windsor, through the Colorado Division of Emergency Management, has requested financial assistance from FEMA to implement mitigation measures to reduce the flood hazard associated with the John Law Ditch. The assistance would be provided under FEMA’s PDM Program. The purpose of the PDM Program is to substantially reduce the risk of future damage, hardship, loss, or suffering in communities from natural disasters, such as floods, by providing the affected communities with cost-share funds for mitigation projects.  FEMA has therefore prepared this Environmental Assessment (EA) in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA implementing regulations (Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Parts 1500–1508) and FEMA’s NEPA procedures (44 CFR Part 10).