The purpose of this site is to provide information about environmental and historic preservation requirements for the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Programs.
Environmental and Historic Preservation
A condition of HMA grants is the requirement to comply with all applicable environmental and historic preservation laws and regulations. Consequently, per HMA Program eligibility requirements, all HMA grants must undergo an environmental planning and historic preservation (EHP) review. This process ensures that federal grant monies are used in a manner consistent with federal laws pertaining to the environment and historic preservation, as well as consideration of the effects to, and protection and enhancement of, natural and cultural resources. This broad EHP review considers a wide variety of natural and cultural resources including floodplains, wetlands, archeological sites, historic structures, protected coastal areas, endangered and threatened species, critical wildlife habitats, soils, clean air and water and children, minority and low-income populations.
Compliance with EHP-related laws can have time and cost implications to projects. During the project scoping process, environmental and cultural resource considerations are identified and evaluated. Additionally, based on potential impacts to identified environmental and cultural resources, there may be a legal requirement to alter the project. Applicants should consider the whole range of program requirements, including EHP requirements, in the beginning stages of project development. This will help increase the efficiency of the review by ensuring that EHP requirements are addressed at the earliest stage possible and consequently reduce the need for additional requests for information, potentially preventing future delays.
It is important that applicants be aware of these EHP requirements and the tools available to them during application development for HMA grants. Therefore, the following websites, tools and additional resources are provided. For additional information on FEMA’s Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation (OEHP) program, please visit the Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation Program page.
Grant Preparation Assistance Resources
Environmental & Historic Preservation Guidance for FEMA Grant Applications: Information to assist applicants with identifying EHP concerns and providing critical information to FEMA.
Environmental and Historic Preservation Checklist: A checklist to assist with the identification of EHP concerns and EHP frontloading during application development.
eLearning Tool for FEMA Grant Applicants: Information that clarifies what constitutes sufficient and helpful EHP documentation during the application process.
Technical Resources
EHP Helplines:
Phone: (866) 222-3580
E-mail: ehhelpline@dhs.gov
Hazard Mitigation Assistance Unified Guidance: Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program and Flood Mitigation Assistance Program: Defines HMA programs, provides funding guidance and outlines EHP requirements for HMA programs.
HMA EHP At-A-Glance Guide: Project Planning with Considerations for EHP Compliance: Checklist identifying EHP resources of concern for HMA activities and the triggers for escalating complexity of EHP compliance reviews.
HMA EHP Resources At-A-Glance Guide: A Practical Guide to Environmental & Historic Preservation Laws, Rules, and Tools: Provides a summary of EHP laws, regulations and Executive Orders applicable to FEMA review. Provides key contacts, websites and search engines to assist applicants in early identification of EHP resources of concern.
Integrating Historic Property and Cultural Resource Considerations into Hazard Mitigation Planning: State and Local Mitigation Planning How-to Guide : FEMA Publication 386-6: Provides guidance on how to integrate historic preservation considerations into the development of hazard mitigation plans.
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), Floodplain Management Bulletin: Historic Structures, FEMA P-467-2: Addresses how the NFIP treats historic structures and identifies mitigation measures that can be taken to protect historic structures from floods.
EHP Training
IS-253 Coordinating Environmental and Historic Preservation Compliance: Link to the IS-253 course on Coordinating Environmental and Historic Preservation Compliance for FEMA disaster assistance.