Notice of Adoption of Policy Statement on Climate Change and Historic Preservation, 51333-51338 [2023-16569]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 148 / Thursday, August 3, 2023 / Notices
TOTAL ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS—Continued
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Total ..............................................................................
* 817
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* The number of grantees is an estimate as it fluctuates each year.
HRSA specifically requests comments
on (1) the necessity and utility of the
proposed information collection for the
proper performance of the agency’s
functions, (2) the accuracy of the
estimated burden, (3) ways to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected, and (4) the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology to minimize the information
collection burden.
Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2023–16514 Filed 8–2–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165–15–P
ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC
PRESERVATION
Notice of Adoption of Policy Statement
on Climate Change and Historic
Preservation
Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation.
ACTION: Notice of adoption of policy
statement on climate change and
historic preservation.
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
AGENCY:
The Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation has adopted its
Policy Statement on Climate Change
and Historic Preservation.
DATES: The policy statement was
adopted on June 16, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Druscilla Null, (202) 517–1487, dnull@
achp.gov.
SUMMARY:
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The
Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation (ACHP), an independent
federal agency created by the National
Historic Preservation Act (NHPA),
works to promote the preservation,
enhancement, and sustainable use of
our nation’s diverse historic resources,
and advises the President and the
Congress on national historic
preservation policy.
Under the NHPA, the ACHP’s duties
include advising the President and
Congress on matters relating to historic
preservation; recommending measures
to coordinate activities of federal, state,
and local agencies and private
institutions and individuals related to
historic preservation; and advising on
the dissemination of information
pertaining to those activities. In keeping
with these mandates, in July 2021 the
ACHP initiated discussions regarding
the impact of climate change on historic
places and how the ACHP might advise
and assist federal agencies and other
stakeholders in addressing the issue.
To focus ACHP efforts, Vice Chairman
Jordan Tannenbaum (then acting ACHP
Chair) convened the ACHP Climate
Change and Historic Preservation Task
Force, which first met in November
2021. In addition to Vice Chairman
Tannenbaum and ACHP members Reno
Franklin, Rick Gonzalez, Kristopher
King, and Jay Vogt, the following
agencies and organizations were
represented on the Task Force: National
Association of Tribal Historic
Preservation Officers; National
Conference of State Historic
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Preservation Officers; National Trust for
Historic Preservation; Department of
Defense; Department of Homeland
Security; Department of Housing and
Urban Development; Department of the
Interior; Department of Transportation;
Department of Veterans Affairs; and
General Services Administration.
Following her confirmation by the
Senate in December 2022 and
subsequent swearing in, current ACHP
Chair Sara C. Bronin also joined the task
force.
Based on task force meeting
discussions, ACHP staff developed a
draft policy statement that was reviewed
by the task force. A revised draft of the
policy statement was then developed
and provided to the full ACHP
membership for initial review. In March
2023, the members approved providing
the draft to stakeholders and the public
for comment. Two consultation events
were held, one for Tribal and Native
Hawaiian organization leaders and the
other for State Historic Preservation
Officers and their staffs. General public
comments also were solicited. Based on
the feedback received, the draft was
revised. The final version of the policy
statement was adopted by vote of the
ACHP members on June 16, 2023.
The ACHP issues the regulations (36
CFR part 800) that implement section
106 of the NHPA, which requires federal
agencies to take into account the effects
of projects they carry out, approve, or
fund on historic properties. The policy
statement applies to the consideration of
climate change issues during section
106 reviews.
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While the policy statement pertains to
federal agency challenges and
opportunities, it also speaks broadly to
nonfederal parties, including but not
limited to state, tribal, and local
governments; preservation planners;
and the public. The document defines
the scope of the challenge, discussing
the range of historic property types
affected and the variety of climate
impacts. Effects to sacred sites and other
properties significant to Indian Tribes
and Native Hawaiian organizations are
highlighted, as are the disproportionate
impacts of climate change on historic
places in underserved communities.
The bulk of the document consists of
a series of policy principles that are
grouped under seven general topics:
gathering information; planning for
climate change; climate change
mitigation; equity; flexibility; education;
and collaboration.
Text of the Policy Statement on Climate
Change and Historic Preservation
The full text of the adopted policy
statement is reproduced below:
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
ACHP Climate Change and Historic
Preservation Policy Statement
America’s historic properties—
important places that help to define and
connect people to their communities—
are experiencing escalating climate
impacts that are increasingly leading to
their damage and destruction. The
Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation (ACHP) has developed this
policy statement to define more clearly
connections between climate change
and historic properties, to articulate
policy principles the ACHP will
integrate into the section 106 process,
and to guide public-serving institutions
on how they may acknowledge, plan for,
mitigate, and adapt to climate change
impacts on historic properties.
Scope of the Issue
In 2014, the Union of Concerned
Scientists released an important report,
National Landmarks at Risk: How Rising
Seas, Floods, and Wildfires Are
Threatening the United States’ Most
Cherished Historic Sites. Through a
series of case studies illustrating climate
change impacts to well-known historic
places (many of them federally owned
and managed), the report concluded
that:
Many of the United States’ iconic
landmarks and heritage sites are at risk
as never before. Sea level rise, coastal
erosion, increased flooding, heavy rains,
and more frequent large wildfires are
damaging archaeological resources,
historic buildings, and cultural
landscapes across the nation. From sea
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to shining sea, a remarkable number of
the places where American history was
made are already under threat. The
geographic and cultural quilt that tells
the American story is fraying at the
edges—and even beginning to be pulled
apart—by the impacts of climate
change.
While that report focused on ‘‘iconic’’
sites, all kinds of historic buildings and
neighborhoods, archaeological sites,
Tribal sites and resources, and
culturally important landscapes (both
designed and natural) throughout the
country (collectively, ‘‘historic
properties’’), as well as associated
intangible cultural heritage, are at risk
from a broad range of potential climate
impacts, including sea level rise;
extreme weather events; increased
wildfires; drought; melting permafrost
and erosion; and temperature changes.
These impacts are both direct and
cumulative, and threaten not only
historic properties but also the
terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna
associated with historically and
culturally important places. The loss of
or damage to historic properties from
such climate impacts can irrevocably
change a community’s sense of place
and erode people’s sense of personal
identity and cultural stability.
Among the historic properties affected
by climate change are sacred sites,
landscapes, and other properties of
religious and cultural significance to
Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations (NHOs). These historic
properties frequently are inseparable
from the natural landscape and reflect a
symbiotic relationship between nature
and culture that is increasingly
threatened by climate change. As
described in the 2021 Status of Tribes
and Climate Change Report, authored
by the Status of Tribes and Climate
Change Working Group convened by the
Institute for Tribal Environmental
Professionals:
Tribes have long faced many
challenges in protecting and preserving
[Tribal cultural resources], including
from the multiplying effects of climate
change. From the erosion of ancient
burials out of coastal bluffs on the
Pacific coast to the disruption of
habitats and life cycles for traditional
subsistence foods and medicines in the
Great Plains and the weathering and
loss of ancient petroglyphs and
pictographs in the Southwest, climate
change is threatening Tribal cultural
resources ranging from tangible
archaeological sites to intangible
cultural beliefs and values.
Listening sessions and other outreach
efforts with Indian Tribes and NHOs
regarding climate impacts have helped
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to shape this policy statement and
underscore the severity of these
impacts.
It also is important to acknowledge
the often-disproportionate impact of
climate change on disadvantaged and
underserved communities. These
communities generally are limited in
their ability to plan for and adapt to
climate change, often lacking
management and decision-making
authority for key resources, and thus
may be constrained in addressing
impacts on historic properties.
Role of the Federal Government
The ACHP, an independent federal
agency created by the National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA), works to
promote the preservation, enhancement,
and sustainable use of our nation’s
diverse historic resources. It is the
ACHP’s responsibility to ‘‘advise the
President and Congress on matters
relating to historic preservation,
recommend measures to coordinate
activities of federal, state, and local
agencies and private institutions and
individuals related to historic
preservation, and advise on the
dissemination of information pertaining
to those activities’’ (54 U.S.C. 304102).
The ACHP has developed this policy
statement in keeping with this mandate.
In accordance with the NHPA, the
federal government is to be a national
preservation leader, manage and care for
historic properties under its control, and
foster both nonfederal, governmental,
and private preservation activities.
Section 110 of the NHPA (54 U.S.C.
306101–306107; 306109–306114) sets
out the broad historic preservation
responsibilities of federal agencies and
is intended to ensure that historic
preservation is fully integrated into their
ongoing programs. Section 106 of the
NHPA (54 U.S.C 306108) requires
federal agencies to consider the effects
of projects they carry out, approve, or
fund on historic properties. As the
ACHP issues the regulations (36 CFR
part 800) that guide federal agencies in
completing review of federal projects
under section 106, this policy statement
applies to the consideration of climate
change issues during section 106
reviews.
Climate change adds new challenges
to fulfilling federal responsibilities
under the NHPA and calls for creative
approaches. All federal agencies should
be considering impacts to historic
properties as part of their climate
change planning. Progress is being made
in this regard, but much more remains
to be done. The National Park Service
has issued several studies and guidance
documents to guide both its own
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response to climate change and to assist
others. Building upon and expanding
such federal guidance will be vitally
important.
Intended Audience
Given the leadership role of the
federal government in addressing both
climate impacts and historic
preservation, the following policy
principles seek to promote informed
federal decision making and responsible
stewardship of historic properties. The
ACHP also has designed this policy
statement to assist community groups,
nonprofit organizations, and Tribal,
state, and local governments
(collectively, along with federal
agencies, ‘‘public-serving institutions’’)
as they seek to address the impacts of
climate change on historic properties
important to the people they represent.
Policy Principles
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Gathering Information
1. Public-serving institutions should
work collaboratively to assemble
information about previously designated
or documented historic properties and
to identify previously undesignated or
undocumented historic properties, with
priority on areas with the highest
potential for climate impacts. We
cannot protect historic properties if we
do not know where and what they are.
Climate change effects can be felt
anywhere, and thus public-serving
institutions should establish the longterm goal of assembling accurate,
georeferenced information about
historic properties, known and
unknown, wherever they are. In the near
term, public-serving institutions should
prioritize surveying known and
unknown historic properties in areas
where severe effects to historic
properties can be readily anticipated,
whether from direct climate threats or
expected impacts from climate change
adaptation and mitigation solutions.
Precedence should be given to areas
where there has been little previous
survey for historic properties or where
an existing survey is outdated. Often,
these priority areas include
disadvantaged and underserved
communities that may previously have
received limited attention and that may
lack resources to undertake surveys of
their own. Flexibility in the design and
function of survey projects can help to
advance equity goals in identification of
historic properties.
Consistent with their missions and
authorities, federal agencies should both
prioritize the survey and identification
of federal historic properties threatened
by climate change and—through
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funding and technical assistance—
encourage Tribal, state, local, and
nongovernmental survey efforts. Federal
agencies are required under section 110
of the NHPA (54 U.S.C. 306102) to
identify historic properties under their
jurisdiction or control; however,
additional resources are needed if
agencies are to accelerate efforts to
identify historic properties as part of
climate change planning. In the process
of conducting these surveys and
documenting Tribal sites and resources,
federal agencies should act in
accordance with the confidentiality
provisions of section 304 of the NHPA
(54 U.S.C. 307103).
2. When planning to address climate
impacts on historic properties, publicserving institutions should seek out and
incorporate adaptation and mitigation
strategies grounded in Indigenous
Knowledge. Indian Tribes and NHOs
possess a body of observations, oral and
written knowledge, innovations,
practices, and beliefs developed through
interaction and experience with the
environment. The expertise embodied
by such Indigenous Knowledge and its
contemporary use by Indian Tribes and
NHOs can be critically important to the
development of climate change
adaptation and mitigation strategies. It
is paramount that Indigenous
Knowledge is considered when
addressing climate impacts on historic
properties of direct concern to Indian
Tribes and NHOs. Indigenous
Knowledge also can contribute to
developing climate-related strategies for
other historic properties, for example
when Indigenous Knowledge of wildfire
management assists in making areas and
communities more resilient to wildfire
threats.
Planning for Climate Change
3. Public-serving institutions should
consider impacts to historic properties
as an integral part of climate-related
planning and implementation.
Governments—federal, Tribal, state, and
local—and other public-serving
institutions are working to prepare for
and adjust to both current and projected
impacts of climate change. Efforts
include climate protective infrastructure
projects, such as living shorelines and
seawalls; climate resilient infrastructure
projects where roads, sewers,
waterlines, etc. are built or retrofitted to
better resist climate impacts; and efforts
to relocate threatened historic buildings
out of climate risk-prone areas. To
ensure effects to historic properties are
not overlooked, thus leading to their
destruction or making them more
difficult to later address, public-serving
institutions must proactively account
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for historic properties during climate
change planning and implementation
activities. Doing so not only serves to
help protect historic properties but also
supports other aspects of public agency
missions and community priorities that
benefit from the continued stewardship
of historic properties. At the macro level
of consideration, expanding and
enhancing discussion of historic
properties in the periodic National
Climate Assessment developed by the
U.S. Global Change Research Program
would be beneficial.
4. Public-serving institutions should
consider impacts to historic properties
as an integral part of disaster
preparedness and response. While some
climate change impacts, such as sea
level rise, progress gradually, others,
such as wildfires and extreme weather
events, present immediate natural
hazards. Plans for disaster preparedness
and disaster response should assess the
vulnerability of historic properties,
delineate actions to help reduce or
avoid disaster impacts on historic
properties, and explain how such
properties will be treated during postdisaster recovery efforts. Federal
disaster assistance programs should
encourage and incentivize Tribal, state,
and local governments to incorporate
such considerations into disaster
preparedness and response planning.
Historic building relocation should be
prioritized in the context of federal or
state government buyout programs
where at-risk properties are acquired to
reduce future disaster losses.
5. Public-serving institutions serving
communities experiencing climate
change-related migration, including
community-driven relocation of entire
communities, should address the
impacts of such migration on historic
properties in their planning strategies.
Adapting to the changing climate will in
some cases mean population shifts into,
out of, and within communities,
resulting in a number of possible
impacts to historic properties. Historic
properties in areas experiencing
population increases consequently may
be threatened by development
pressures. Historic properties in riskprone areas experiencing population
decreases may suffer from neglect and
displacement of residents with longstanding ties to the area. In extreme
situations, entire populations of
communities may need to relocate to
escape climate-induced impacts,
triggering difficult choices regarding the
abandonment or possible relocation of
historic properties. Considering such
migration-based effects during climate
adaptation planning is critical to
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reducing negative effects to historic
properties, culture, and community.
Climate Change Mitigation
6. Public-serving institutions should
contribute to decarbonization by
promoting reuse of older and historic
buildings and by encouraging the
thoughtful retrofit of such buildings to
improve operational energy efficiency.
About 39 percent of global carbon
emissions come from the construction
and operation of buildings. This impact
can be reduced by reusing existing
buildings, thus avoiding the embodied
carbon emissions inherent in new
construction, including the carbon
associated with the manufacturing and
transportation of new materials and the
removal and disposal of building
materials from demolished buildings.
Reuse of existing buildings in urban
areas also contributes to climate change
mitigation by promoting density,
helping to combat urban sprawl and its
attendant negative environmental
impacts. In terms of operational
impacts, carbon emissions can be
reduced by making existing buildings
more energy efficient.
Since approximately 40 percent of
America’s building stock is at least 50
years old, it is critical that reuse and
energy retrofit of older and historic
buildings (including enhanced
electrification and increased energy
efficiency standards) be fundamental
priorities. In worst case scenarios,
where a historic building will not be
retrofitted and demolition cannot be
avoided, practices such as
deconstruction and reuse of salvageable
materials should be employed to reduce
the demolition’s carbon impact. Federal,
Tribal, state, and local governments
should lead by example through the
management of the older and historic
buildings in their real estate portfolios
and encourage private sector action
through funding and other incentives.
As part of portfolio management
decision making, consideration should
be given to using full life-cycle
accounting to value the embodied
carbon in historic buildings versus new
construction in order to facilitate factbased decision making. In addition,
government standards and programs
that promote the rehabilitation of
historic properties should be assessed to
ensure that they align with climate
mitigation and adaptation goals; that
they facilitate a variety of modern uses;
and that they encourage implementation
of energy efficiency measures as integral
to thoughtful preservation of historic
buildings.
7. Development of clean energy
projects and climate-friendly
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transportation infrastructure projects
should be expedited through efficient
and effective permitting processes and
environmental reviews (including
section 106 reviews), while still ensuring
full consideration of potential impacts
to historic properties. Reducing climate
change will require significant
investment in large-scale clean energy
projects (such as solar farms, wind
farms, hydropower plants, geothermal
plants, new and expanded transmission
facilities, carbon capture and
sequestration projects, and mining of
key minerals needed for clean energy
technologies) as well as smaller-scale
distributed generation projects, such as
rooftop solar panels, that generate
electricity at or near where it will be
used. Climate-friendly transportation
infrastructure projects—including rail,
bus rapid transit, bicycle infrastructure,
and pedestrian infrastructure—also are
critical to climate change mitigation
since the transportation sector is
responsible for more greenhouse gas
emissions than any other sector of the
American economy.
Environmental reviews and
permitting processes for these types of
important projects, especially those
with minimal and small-scale impacts,
should be managed in such a way as to
proceed expeditiously. However,
potential adverse effects to historic
properties must be carefully addressed.
Of particular concern, such projects
(particularly those with landscape-scale
impacts) can threaten sacred sites and
other properties of religious and cultural
significance to Indian Tribes and NHOs,
sometimes striking at the very heart of
their cultures. During section 106
review of clean energy projects and
climate-friendly transportation
infrastructure projects, federal agencies
should explore use of program
alternatives to tailor and expedite the
review process while at the same time
ensuring the consultation process is
accessible, meaningful, and transparent
to the wide variety of consulting parties
and stakeholders, including Indian
Tribes and NHOs.
Equity
8. Public-serving institutions should
recognize that historic properties
important to disadvantaged and
underserved communities may be
disproportionately affected by climate
change and that such communities
often are ill-equipped to undertake
needed interventions. Disadvantaged
and underserved communities tend to
lack the economic and political capital
to plan for and adapt to climate change
and may not have direct control over
decision-making for community
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resources. Many such communities also
are particularly susceptible to the
physical impacts of climate change. For
example, low-income residents and
people of color disproportionally reside
in flood-prone urban areas. Also,
disadvantaged groups are more likely to
reside in older housing stock that is in
greater need of weatherization and
energy retrofitting. Such constraints
may hinder disadvantaged and
underserved communities in trying to
make the places they care about—
including historic properties—more
resilient to climate impacts. Publicserving institutions should recognize
and seek to address this problem by
helping those affected identify their
historic properties, assess their
community’s vulnerability, and develop
strategies to balance appropriate
adaptation and mitigation responses
with the need to preserve their
community identity and sense of place.
9. Federal, state, and local
government entities that oversee
planning, permitting processes, and
environmental reviews (including
section 106 reviews) for climate
adaptation and climate mitigation
projects should consult regarding
historic properties with Indian Tribes,
NHOs, and disadvantaged and
underserved communities, and capacity
building options should be explored for
supporting their participation in
consultation. The section 106 process
under the NHPA already requires
federal agency consultation with Indian
Tribes, NHOs, and other consulting
parties. Here, the ACHP reiterates that
consultation is necessary and important
to ensuring climate adaptation and
mitigation projects address impacts to
historic properties of importance to
Indian Tribes, NHOs, and disadvantaged
and underserved communities.
Soliciting and considering their views
should be done proactively, early in
planning, and throughout
environmental reviews and permitting
processes. During development of
adaptation and mitigation strategies,
local knowledge (the information held
by local communities and individuals)
and the Indigenous Knowledge of
Indian Tribes and NHOs can be valuable
assets to planning.
In some cases, limited resources may
constrain the active participation of
disadvantaged and underserved
communities in consultation. Federal,
state, and local government entities
should consider options for strategic
financial investments or other assistance
to help with needed capacity
development. The ACHP previously has
recommended capacity-building
support for consulting parties pursuant
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to the agency’s ‘‘Guidance on Assistance
to Consulting Parties in the section 106
Review Process.’’ Since many Indian
Tribes have been incorporating
consideration of climate change into
their environmental reviews and
permitting processes for decades,
climate-related project planning should
seek to adopt or align with existing
practices and standards, where feasible.
Flexibility
10. The federal government should
expand and more flexibly apply its
guidance on the treatment of historic
properties threatened by climate
change. Federal standards significantly
influence the rehabilitation of historic
properties, public and private alike,
because they are often adopted or
adapted by state and local governments
and referenced in private party actions
(such as preservation easements). The
federal government should accelerate
the development of additional guidance
for acceptable treatments of historic
buildings, sites, and landscapes facing
climate risks. The guidance should
extend beyond flooding to the broad
range of climate impacts, should
incorporate the latest technological
innovations and material treatments,
and should increase flexibility in
retrofitting buildings to be more
resilient while preserving their historic
character as much as possible. Likewise,
the National Flood Insurance Program
should be reviewed to explore how the
program might further encourage the
modification or relocation of historic
buildings to enhance their resiliency,
and to evaluate the impacts of waivers
issued for historic properties upon
community and building resiliency,
public cost, and economic growth.
11. Public-serving institutions should
develop sensitive and creative solutions
to help communities accept and
contend with the reality that many
historic properties will have to be
altered if they are to survive climate
change, and many others inevitably will
be lost to climate impacts. Interventions
to protect historic properties from
climate impacts or reduce such impacts
may necessitate changes to the
properties or their surroundings that are
less than ideal. Such actions, while
saving the properties from loss, may
result in negative effects. Public-serving
institutions should start talking more
openly about these issues, should guide
communities in how to triage priorities
regarding what properties to surrender
to climate destruction, and should
develop sensitive and sensible strategies
to help residents deal with such losses.
12. Consideration of alternatives
during environmental review of climate-
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related projects, including during
section 106 review, should be
approached flexibly to promote
development of nimble, innovative, and
expeditious ways to protect historic
properties. Section 106 review and other
environmental reviews provide
structured processes for exploring
alternatives to avoid or minimize any
adverse impacts of climate adaptation
and mitigation projects. Since the
evolving climate crisis poses new and
complex challenges for the protection of
historic properties that need to be
addressed on an increasingly
accelerated timeline, it is important that
consideration of alternatives be rooted
in flexibility and creativity.
Education
13. Public-serving institutions, and
especially governments, should train
employees regarding climate change
impacts on historic properties. Given
the scope and magnitude of the climate
change effects that federal, Tribal, state,
and local governments must address, it
is understandable that impacts to
historic properties may not be
prioritized as highly as some other
issues. However, it is critical that there
be awareness of such impacts and of the
importance of addressing them. Raising
awareness through proactive training of
government staff is essential. Agencies
at all levels of government should have
opportunities to learn from each other
and to share information, strategies, and
examples. Notably, it also is important
for them to increase their understanding
of relevant international approaches to
protecting historic properties from, and
adapting them to, climate change.
14. Public-serving institutions should
educate the media and the public about
climate change impacts on historic
properties and what can be done to
address them. The general public needs
to be aware of the worldwide climaterelated threats to historic properties and
the adaptation and mitigation options
that might help to address those threats.
Consciousness raising efforts are
needed. Likewise, there needs to be
outreach to explain how environmental
review processes, including section 106
review, provide opportunities for the
public to comment on the climate
dimensions of projects as they arise.
Such educational efforts are important
to help ensure the public can effectively
advocate for protecting historic
properties of importance to them.
Collaboration
15. Cooperative efforts across
agencies, between levels of government,
and within communities are critically
important. The impacts of climate
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51337
change on historic properties are so
wide-ranging and potentially severe that
collaboration among public-serving
institutions, including federal, Tribal,
state, and local governments,
community groups, and nonprofit
organizations, is essential. Likewise,
collaboration with those in the
environmental, infrastructure,
transportation, energy, private, and
philanthropic sectors will be necessary
for progress. Cooperation and forging of
partnerships will enhance
implementation of each of the
principles discussed above. Federal
agencies can take a leadership role in
this regard through their own
collaborative work and by encouraging
such work through funding and
technical assistance.
Glossary
• Adaptation: Adjustment in natural
or human systems to a new or changing
environment that exploits beneficial
opportunities or moderates negative
effects. (U.S. Global Change Research
Program Web Site Glossary)
• Climate change-related migration:
Migration that can be attributed largely
to the slow-onset impacts of climate
change on livelihoods owing to shifts in
water availability and crop productivity,
or to factors such as sea level rise or
storm surge. (White House Report on the
Impact of Climate Change on Migration,
2021)
• Community-driven relocation:
Moving a community or portions of a
community away from a hazard prone
area to a new location with lesser
exposure to hazards or their impacts.
(Department of Housing and Urban
Development’s Climate Resilience
Implementation Guide: Community
Driven Relocation, 2022)
• Historic property: Any prehistoric
or historic district, site, building,
structure, or object included in, or
eligible for inclusion in, the National
Register of Historic Places maintained
by the Secretary of the Interior. This
term includes artifacts, records, and
remains that are related to and located
within such properties. The term
includes properties of traditional
religious and cultural importance to an
Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization and that meet the National
Register criteria. (Protection of Historic
Properties, 36 CFR part 800)
• Mitigation: Measures to reduce the
amount and speed of future climate
change by reducing emissions of heattrapping gases or removing carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere. (U.S.
Global Change Research Program Web
Site Glossary) [To avoid confusion, this
policy statement does not employ the
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51338
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 148 / Thursday, August 3, 2023 / Notices
term ‘‘mitigation’’ as used in the context
of section 106 review, where it means
reducing the severity of a project’s
adverse effects to historic properties.]
• Resiliency/resilient: A capability to
anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and
recover from significant multi-hazard
threats with minimum damage to social
well-being, the economy, and the
environment. (U.S. Global Change
Research Program Web Site Glossary)
Adopted June 16, 2023.
(End of Document)
Authority: 54 U.S.C. 304102(a).
Dated: July 31, 2023.
Javier Marques,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023–16569 Filed 8–2–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–K6–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement
[OMB Control Number 1653–0051]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Extension of a Currently
Approved Collection: Standards To
Prevent, Detect, and Respond to
Sexual Abuse and Assault in
Confinement Facilities
U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, Department of Homeland
Security.
ACTION: 60-Day notice.
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995, the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) will submit
the following Information Collection
Request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until October 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: All submissions received
must include the OMB Control Number
1653–0051 in the body of the
correspondence, the agency name and
Docket ID ICEB–2012–0003. All
comments received will be posted
without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided.
(1) Online. Submit comments via the
Federal eRulemaking Portal website at
https://www.regulations.gov under eDocket ID number ICEB–2012–0003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If
you have questions related to this
collection please contact: Chelsea
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:35 Aug 02, 2023
Jkt 259001
Dennis, ICE/OIPE, (202) 423–7456,
chelsea.y.dennis@ice.dhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[FR Doc. 2023–16567 Filed 8–2–23; 8:45 am]
Comment
BILLING CODE 9111–28–P
Written comments and suggestions
from the public and affected agencies
concerning the proposed collection of
information should address one or more
of the following four points:
(1) Evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility;
(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
(4) Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submission of
responses.
Overview of This Information
Collection
(1) Type of Information Collection:
Extension of a Currently Approved
Collection.
(2) Title of the Form/Collection:
Standards to Prevent, Detect, and
Respond to Sexual Abuse and Assault in
Confinement Facilities.
(3) Affected public who will be asked
or required to respond, as well as a brief
abstract: Primary: Individual or
Households. DHS sets standards for the
prevention, detection, and response to
sexual abuse in its confinement
facilities. For DHS facilities and as
incorporated in DHS contracts, these
standards require covered facilities to
retain and report to the agency certain
specified information relating to sexual
abuse prevention planning, responsive
planning, education and training, and
investigations, as well as to collect,
retain, and report to the agency certain
specified information relating to
allegations of sexual abuse within the
covered facility.
(4) An estimate of the total number of
respondents: 1,376,754.
(5) An estimate of the total public
burden (in hours) associated with the
collection: 117,267 annual burden
hours.
PO 00000
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Dated: July 31, 2023.
Scott Elmore,
ICE Paperwork Reduction Act Officer, OCIO.
Fmt 4703
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement
[OMB Control Number 1653–NEW; Docket
ID ICEB–2023–0007]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; New Information Collection;
Comment Request; Non-E-Verify
Remote Document Examination Pilot 1
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, Department of Homeland
Security.
ACTION: 60-Day notice.
AGENCY:
The Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) invites the
public to comment upon this proposed
new collection of information. In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the
information collection notice is
published in the Federal Register to
obtain comments regarding all aspects
of the information collection, the
categories of respondents, the estimated
burden (e.g., the time, effort, and
resources used by the respondents to
respond), the estimated cost to the
respondent, and the actual information
collection instruments.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until October 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: All submissions received
must include the OMB Control Number
1653–NEW in the body of the
correspondence, the agency name and
Docket ID ICEB–2023–0007. Submit
comments via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal website at https://
www.regulations.gov under e-Docket ID
number ICEB–2023–0007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sharon Hageman, Deputy Assistant
Director, Office of Regulatory Affairs
and Policy, U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, Department of
Homeland Security, telephone number
202–732–6960 (This is not a toll-free
number. Comments are not accepted via
telephone message.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Background
Section 274A of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA), as amended,
prohibits the knowing employment of
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 148 (Thursday, August 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51333-51338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16569]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Notice of Adoption of Policy Statement on Climate Change and
Historic Preservation
AGENCY: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
ACTION: Notice of adoption of policy statement on climate change and
historic preservation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has adopted its
Policy Statement on Climate Change and Historic Preservation.
DATES: The policy statement was adopted on June 16, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Druscilla Null, (202) 517-1487,
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation (ACHP), an independent federal agency created by the
National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), works to promote the
preservation, enhancement, and sustainable use of our nation's diverse
historic resources, and advises the President and the Congress on
national historic preservation policy.
Under the NHPA, the ACHP's duties include advising the President
and Congress on matters relating to historic preservation; recommending
measures to coordinate activities of federal, state, and local agencies
and private institutions and individuals related to historic
preservation; and advising on the dissemination of information
pertaining to those activities. In keeping with these mandates, in July
2021 the ACHP initiated discussions regarding the impact of climate
change on historic places and how the ACHP might advise and assist
federal agencies and other stakeholders in addressing the issue.
To focus ACHP efforts, Vice Chairman Jordan Tannenbaum (then acting
ACHP Chair) convened the ACHP Climate Change and Historic Preservation
Task Force, which first met in November 2021. In addition to Vice
Chairman Tannenbaum and ACHP members Reno Franklin, Rick Gonzalez,
Kristopher King, and Jay Vogt, the following agencies and organizations
were represented on the Task Force: National Association of Tribal
Historic Preservation Officers; National Conference of State Historic
Preservation Officers; National Trust for Historic Preservation;
Department of Defense; Department of Homeland Security; Department of
Housing and Urban Development; Department of the Interior; Department
of Transportation; Department of Veterans Affairs; and General Services
Administration. Following her confirmation by the Senate in December
2022 and subsequent swearing in, current ACHP Chair Sara C. Bronin also
joined the task force.
Based on task force meeting discussions, ACHP staff developed a
draft policy statement that was reviewed by the task force. A revised
draft of the policy statement was then developed and provided to the
full ACHP membership for initial review. In March 2023, the members
approved providing the draft to stakeholders and the public for
comment. Two consultation events were held, one for Tribal and Native
Hawaiian organization leaders and the other for State Historic
Preservation Officers and their staffs. General public comments also
were solicited. Based on the feedback received, the draft was revised.
The final version of the policy statement was adopted by vote of the
ACHP members on June 16, 2023.
The ACHP issues the regulations (36 CFR part 800) that implement
section 106 of the NHPA, which requires federal agencies to take into
account the effects of projects they carry out, approve, or fund on
historic properties. The policy statement applies to the consideration
of climate change issues during section 106 reviews.
[[Page 51334]]
While the policy statement pertains to federal agency challenges
and opportunities, it also speaks broadly to nonfederal parties,
including but not limited to state, tribal, and local governments;
preservation planners; and the public. The document defines the scope
of the challenge, discussing the range of historic property types
affected and the variety of climate impacts. Effects to sacred sites
and other properties significant to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations are highlighted, as are the disproportionate impacts of
climate change on historic places in underserved communities.
The bulk of the document consists of a series of policy principles
that are grouped under seven general topics: gathering information;
planning for climate change; climate change mitigation; equity;
flexibility; education; and collaboration.
Text of the Policy Statement on Climate Change and Historic
Preservation
The full text of the adopted policy statement is reproduced below:
ACHP Climate Change and Historic Preservation Policy Statement
America's historic properties--important places that help to define
and connect people to their communities--are experiencing escalating
climate impacts that are increasingly leading to their damage and
destruction. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) has
developed this policy statement to define more clearly connections
between climate change and historic properties, to articulate policy
principles the ACHP will integrate into the section 106 process, and to
guide public-serving institutions on how they may acknowledge, plan
for, mitigate, and adapt to climate change impacts on historic
properties.
Scope of the Issue
In 2014, the Union of Concerned Scientists released an important
report, National Landmarks at Risk: How Rising Seas, Floods, and
Wildfires Are Threatening the United States' Most Cherished Historic
Sites. Through a series of case studies illustrating climate change
impacts to well-known historic places (many of them federally owned and
managed), the report concluded that:
Many of the United States' iconic landmarks and heritage sites are
at risk as never before. Sea level rise, coastal erosion, increased
flooding, heavy rains, and more frequent large wildfires are damaging
archaeological resources, historic buildings, and cultural landscapes
across the nation. From sea to shining sea, a remarkable number of the
places where American history was made are already under threat. The
geographic and cultural quilt that tells the American story is fraying
at the edges--and even beginning to be pulled apart--by the impacts of
climate change.
While that report focused on ``iconic'' sites, all kinds of
historic buildings and neighborhoods, archaeological sites, Tribal
sites and resources, and culturally important landscapes (both designed
and natural) throughout the country (collectively, ``historic
properties''), as well as associated intangible cultural heritage, are
at risk from a broad range of potential climate impacts, including sea
level rise; extreme weather events; increased wildfires; drought;
melting permafrost and erosion; and temperature changes. These impacts
are both direct and cumulative, and threaten not only historic
properties but also the terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna
associated with historically and culturally important places. The loss
of or damage to historic properties from such climate impacts can
irrevocably change a community's sense of place and erode people's
sense of personal identity and cultural stability.
Among the historic properties affected by climate change are sacred
sites, landscapes, and other properties of religious and cultural
significance to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations (NHOs).
These historic properties frequently are inseparable from the natural
landscape and reflect a symbiotic relationship between nature and
culture that is increasingly threatened by climate change. As described
in the 2021 Status of Tribes and Climate Change Report, authored by the
Status of Tribes and Climate Change Working Group convened by the
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals:
Tribes have long faced many challenges in protecting and preserving
[Tribal cultural resources], including from the multiplying effects of
climate change. From the erosion of ancient burials out of coastal
bluffs on the Pacific coast to the disruption of habitats and life
cycles for traditional subsistence foods and medicines in the Great
Plains and the weathering and loss of ancient petroglyphs and
pictographs in the Southwest, climate change is threatening Tribal
cultural resources ranging from tangible archaeological sites to
intangible cultural beliefs and values.
Listening sessions and other outreach efforts with Indian Tribes
and NHOs regarding climate impacts have helped to shape this policy
statement and underscore the severity of these impacts.
It also is important to acknowledge the often-disproportionate
impact of climate change on disadvantaged and underserved communities.
These communities generally are limited in their ability to plan for
and adapt to climate change, often lacking management and decision-
making authority for key resources, and thus may be constrained in
addressing impacts on historic properties.
Role of the Federal Government
The ACHP, an independent federal agency created by the National
Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), works to promote the preservation,
enhancement, and sustainable use of our nation's diverse historic
resources. It is the ACHP's responsibility to ``advise the President
and Congress on matters relating to historic preservation, recommend
measures to coordinate activities of federal, state, and local agencies
and private institutions and individuals related to historic
preservation, and advise on the dissemination of information pertaining
to those activities'' (54 U.S.C. 304102). The ACHP has developed this
policy statement in keeping with this mandate.
In accordance with the NHPA, the federal government is to be a
national preservation leader, manage and care for historic properties
under its control, and foster both nonfederal, governmental, and
private preservation activities. Section 110 of the NHPA (54 U.S.C.
306101-306107; 306109-306114) sets out the broad historic preservation
responsibilities of federal agencies and is intended to ensure that
historic preservation is fully integrated into their ongoing programs.
Section 106 of the NHPA (54 U.S.C 306108) requires federal agencies to
consider the effects of projects they carry out, approve, or fund on
historic properties. As the ACHP issues the regulations (36 CFR part
800) that guide federal agencies in completing review of federal
projects under section 106, this policy statement applies to the
consideration of climate change issues during section 106 reviews.
Climate change adds new challenges to fulfilling federal
responsibilities under the NHPA and calls for creative approaches. All
federal agencies should be considering impacts to historic properties
as part of their climate change planning. Progress is being made in
this regard, but much more remains to be done. The National Park
Service has issued several studies and guidance documents to guide both
its own
[[Page 51335]]
response to climate change and to assist others. Building upon and
expanding such federal guidance will be vitally important.
Intended Audience
Given the leadership role of the federal government in addressing
both climate impacts and historic preservation, the following policy
principles seek to promote informed federal decision making and
responsible stewardship of historic properties. The ACHP also has
designed this policy statement to assist community groups, nonprofit
organizations, and Tribal, state, and local governments (collectively,
along with federal agencies, ``public-serving institutions'') as they
seek to address the impacts of climate change on historic properties
important to the people they represent.
Policy Principles
Gathering Information
1. Public-serving institutions should work collaboratively to
assemble information about previously designated or documented historic
properties and to identify previously undesignated or undocumented
historic properties, with priority on areas with the highest potential
for climate impacts. We cannot protect historic properties if we do not
know where and what they are. Climate change effects can be felt
anywhere, and thus public-serving institutions should establish the
long-term goal of assembling accurate, georeferenced information about
historic properties, known and unknown, wherever they are. In the near
term, public-serving institutions should prioritize surveying known and
unknown historic properties in areas where severe effects to historic
properties can be readily anticipated, whether from direct climate
threats or expected impacts from climate change adaptation and
mitigation solutions. Precedence should be given to areas where there
has been little previous survey for historic properties or where an
existing survey is outdated. Often, these priority areas include
disadvantaged and underserved communities that may previously have
received limited attention and that may lack resources to undertake
surveys of their own. Flexibility in the design and function of survey
projects can help to advance equity goals in identification of historic
properties.
Consistent with their missions and authorities, federal agencies
should both prioritize the survey and identification of federal
historic properties threatened by climate change and--through funding
and technical assistance--encourage Tribal, state, local, and
nongovernmental survey efforts. Federal agencies are required under
section 110 of the NHPA (54 U.S.C. 306102) to identify historic
properties under their jurisdiction or control; however, additional
resources are needed if agencies are to accelerate efforts to identify
historic properties as part of climate change planning. In the process
of conducting these surveys and documenting Tribal sites and resources,
federal agencies should act in accordance with the confidentiality
provisions of section 304 of the NHPA (54 U.S.C. 307103).
2. When planning to address climate impacts on historic properties,
public-serving institutions should seek out and incorporate adaptation
and mitigation strategies grounded in Indigenous Knowledge. Indian
Tribes and NHOs possess a body of observations, oral and written
knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed through
interaction and experience with the environment. The expertise embodied
by such Indigenous Knowledge and its contemporary use by Indian Tribes
and NHOs can be critically important to the development of climate
change adaptation and mitigation strategies. It is paramount that
Indigenous Knowledge is considered when addressing climate impacts on
historic properties of direct concern to Indian Tribes and NHOs.
Indigenous Knowledge also can contribute to developing climate-related
strategies for other historic properties, for example when Indigenous
Knowledge of wildfire management assists in making areas and
communities more resilient to wildfire threats.
Planning for Climate Change
3. Public-serving institutions should consider impacts to historic
properties as an integral part of climate-related planning and
implementation. Governments--federal, Tribal, state, and local--and
other public-serving institutions are working to prepare for and adjust
to both current and projected impacts of climate change. Efforts
include climate protective infrastructure projects, such as living
shorelines and seawalls; climate resilient infrastructure projects
where roads, sewers, waterlines, etc. are built or retrofitted to
better resist climate impacts; and efforts to relocate threatened
historic buildings out of climate risk-prone areas. To ensure effects
to historic properties are not overlooked, thus leading to their
destruction or making them more difficult to later address, public-
serving institutions must proactively account for historic properties
during climate change planning and implementation activities. Doing so
not only serves to help protect historic properties but also supports
other aspects of public agency missions and community priorities that
benefit from the continued stewardship of historic properties. At the
macro level of consideration, expanding and enhancing discussion of
historic properties in the periodic National Climate Assessment
developed by the U.S. Global Change Research Program would be
beneficial.
4. Public-serving institutions should consider impacts to historic
properties as an integral part of disaster preparedness and response.
While some climate change impacts, such as sea level rise, progress
gradually, others, such as wildfires and extreme weather events,
present immediate natural hazards. Plans for disaster preparedness and
disaster response should assess the vulnerability of historic
properties, delineate actions to help reduce or avoid disaster impacts
on historic properties, and explain how such properties will be treated
during post-disaster recovery efforts. Federal disaster assistance
programs should encourage and incentivize Tribal, state, and local
governments to incorporate such considerations into disaster
preparedness and response planning. Historic building relocation should
be prioritized in the context of federal or state government buyout
programs where at-risk properties are acquired to reduce future
disaster losses.
5. Public-serving institutions serving communities experiencing
climate change-related migration, including community-driven relocation
of entire communities, should address the impacts of such migration on
historic properties in their planning strategies. Adapting to the
changing climate will in some cases mean population shifts into, out
of, and within communities, resulting in a number of possible impacts
to historic properties. Historic properties in areas experiencing
population increases consequently may be threatened by development
pressures. Historic properties in risk-prone areas experiencing
population decreases may suffer from neglect and displacement of
residents with long-standing ties to the area. In extreme situations,
entire populations of communities may need to relocate to escape
climate-induced impacts, triggering difficult choices regarding the
abandonment or possible relocation of historic properties. Considering
such migration-based effects during climate adaptation planning is
critical to
[[Page 51336]]
reducing negative effects to historic properties, culture, and
community.
Climate Change Mitigation
6. Public-serving institutions should contribute to decarbonization
by promoting reuse of older and historic buildings and by encouraging
the thoughtful retrofit of such buildings to improve operational energy
efficiency. About 39 percent of global carbon emissions come from the
construction and operation of buildings. This impact can be reduced by
reusing existing buildings, thus avoiding the embodied carbon emissions
inherent in new construction, including the carbon associated with the
manufacturing and transportation of new materials and the removal and
disposal of building materials from demolished buildings. Reuse of
existing buildings in urban areas also contributes to climate change
mitigation by promoting density, helping to combat urban sprawl and its
attendant negative environmental impacts. In terms of operational
impacts, carbon emissions can be reduced by making existing buildings
more energy efficient.
Since approximately 40 percent of America's building stock is at
least 50 years old, it is critical that reuse and energy retrofit of
older and historic buildings (including enhanced electrification and
increased energy efficiency standards) be fundamental priorities. In
worst case scenarios, where a historic building will not be retrofitted
and demolition cannot be avoided, practices such as deconstruction and
reuse of salvageable materials should be employed to reduce the
demolition's carbon impact. Federal, Tribal, state, and local
governments should lead by example through the management of the older
and historic buildings in their real estate portfolios and encourage
private sector action through funding and other incentives. As part of
portfolio management decision making, consideration should be given to
using full life-cycle accounting to value the embodied carbon in
historic buildings versus new construction in order to facilitate fact-
based decision making. In addition, government standards and programs
that promote the rehabilitation of historic properties should be
assessed to ensure that they align with climate mitigation and
adaptation goals; that they facilitate a variety of modern uses; and
that they encourage implementation of energy efficiency measures as
integral to thoughtful preservation of historic buildings.
7. Development of clean energy projects and climate-friendly
transportation infrastructure projects should be expedited through
efficient and effective permitting processes and environmental reviews
(including section 106 reviews), while still ensuring full
consideration of potential impacts to historic properties. Reducing
climate change will require significant investment in large-scale clean
energy projects (such as solar farms, wind farms, hydropower plants,
geothermal plants, new and expanded transmission facilities, carbon
capture and sequestration projects, and mining of key minerals needed
for clean energy technologies) as well as smaller-scale distributed
generation projects, such as rooftop solar panels, that generate
electricity at or near where it will be used. Climate-friendly
transportation infrastructure projects--including rail, bus rapid
transit, bicycle infrastructure, and pedestrian infrastructure--also
are critical to climate change mitigation since the transportation
sector is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other
sector of the American economy.
Environmental reviews and permitting processes for these types of
important projects, especially those with minimal and small-scale
impacts, should be managed in such a way as to proceed expeditiously.
However, potential adverse effects to historic properties must be
carefully addressed. Of particular concern, such projects (particularly
those with landscape-scale impacts) can threaten sacred sites and other
properties of religious and cultural significance to Indian Tribes and
NHOs, sometimes striking at the very heart of their cultures. During
section 106 review of clean energy projects and climate-friendly
transportation infrastructure projects, federal agencies should explore
use of program alternatives to tailor and expedite the review process
while at the same time ensuring the consultation process is accessible,
meaningful, and transparent to the wide variety of consulting parties
and stakeholders, including Indian Tribes and NHOs.
Equity
8. Public-serving institutions should recognize that historic
properties important to disadvantaged and underserved communities may
be disproportionately affected by climate change and that such
communities often are ill-equipped to undertake needed interventions.
Disadvantaged and underserved communities tend to lack the economic and
political capital to plan for and adapt to climate change and may not
have direct control over decision-making for community resources. Many
such communities also are particularly susceptible to the physical
impacts of climate change. For example, low-income residents and people
of color disproportionally reside in flood-prone urban areas. Also,
disadvantaged groups are more likely to reside in older housing stock
that is in greater need of weatherization and energy retrofitting. Such
constraints may hinder disadvantaged and underserved communities in
trying to make the places they care about--including historic
properties--more resilient to climate impacts. Public-serving
institutions should recognize and seek to address this problem by
helping those affected identify their historic properties, assess their
community's vulnerability, and develop strategies to balance
appropriate adaptation and mitigation responses with the need to
preserve their community identity and sense of place.
9. Federal, state, and local government entities that oversee
planning, permitting processes, and environmental reviews (including
section 106 reviews) for climate adaptation and climate mitigation
projects should consult regarding historic properties with Indian
Tribes, NHOs, and disadvantaged and underserved communities, and
capacity building options should be explored for supporting their
participation in consultation. The section 106 process under the NHPA
already requires federal agency consultation with Indian Tribes, NHOs,
and other consulting parties. Here, the ACHP reiterates that
consultation is necessary and important to ensuring climate adaptation
and mitigation projects address impacts to historic properties of
importance to Indian Tribes, NHOs, and disadvantaged and underserved
communities. Soliciting and considering their views should be done
proactively, early in planning, and throughout environmental reviews
and permitting processes. During development of adaptation and
mitigation strategies, local knowledge (the information held by local
communities and individuals) and the Indigenous Knowledge of Indian
Tribes and NHOs can be valuable assets to planning.
In some cases, limited resources may constrain the active
participation of disadvantaged and underserved communities in
consultation. Federal, state, and local government entities should
consider options for strategic financial investments or other
assistance to help with needed capacity development. The ACHP
previously has recommended capacity-building support for consulting
parties pursuant
[[Page 51337]]
to the agency's ``Guidance on Assistance to Consulting Parties in the
section 106 Review Process.'' Since many Indian Tribes have been
incorporating consideration of climate change into their environmental
reviews and permitting processes for decades, climate-related project
planning should seek to adopt or align with existing practices and
standards, where feasible.
Flexibility
10. The federal government should expand and more flexibly apply
its guidance on the treatment of historic properties threatened by
climate change. Federal standards significantly influence the
rehabilitation of historic properties, public and private alike,
because they are often adopted or adapted by state and local
governments and referenced in private party actions (such as
preservation easements). The federal government should accelerate the
development of additional guidance for acceptable treatments of
historic buildings, sites, and landscapes facing climate risks. The
guidance should extend beyond flooding to the broad range of climate
impacts, should incorporate the latest technological innovations and
material treatments, and should increase flexibility in retrofitting
buildings to be more resilient while preserving their historic
character as much as possible. Likewise, the National Flood Insurance
Program should be reviewed to explore how the program might further
encourage the modification or relocation of historic buildings to
enhance their resiliency, and to evaluate the impacts of waivers issued
for historic properties upon community and building resiliency, public
cost, and economic growth.
11. Public-serving institutions should develop sensitive and
creative solutions to help communities accept and contend with the
reality that many historic properties will have to be altered if they
are to survive climate change, and many others inevitably will be lost
to climate impacts. Interventions to protect historic properties from
climate impacts or reduce such impacts may necessitate changes to the
properties or their surroundings that are less than ideal. Such
actions, while saving the properties from loss, may result in negative
effects. Public-serving institutions should start talking more openly
about these issues, should guide communities in how to triage
priorities regarding what properties to surrender to climate
destruction, and should develop sensitive and sensible strategies to
help residents deal with such losses.
12. Consideration of alternatives during environmental review of
climate-related projects, including during section 106 review, should
be approached flexibly to promote development of nimble, innovative,
and expeditious ways to protect historic properties. Section 106 review
and other environmental reviews provide structured processes for
exploring alternatives to avoid or minimize any adverse impacts of
climate adaptation and mitigation projects. Since the evolving climate
crisis poses new and complex challenges for the protection of historic
properties that need to be addressed on an increasingly accelerated
timeline, it is important that consideration of alternatives be rooted
in flexibility and creativity.
Education
13. Public-serving institutions, and especially governments, should
train employees regarding climate change impacts on historic
properties. Given the scope and magnitude of the climate change effects
that federal, Tribal, state, and local governments must address, it is
understandable that impacts to historic properties may not be
prioritized as highly as some other issues. However, it is critical
that there be awareness of such impacts and of the importance of
addressing them. Raising awareness through proactive training of
government staff is essential. Agencies at all levels of government
should have opportunities to learn from each other and to share
information, strategies, and examples. Notably, it also is important
for them to increase their understanding of relevant international
approaches to protecting historic properties from, and adapting them
to, climate change.
14. Public-serving institutions should educate the media and the
public about climate change impacts on historic properties and what can
be done to address them. The general public needs to be aware of the
worldwide climate-related threats to historic properties and the
adaptation and mitigation options that might help to address those
threats. Consciousness raising efforts are needed. Likewise, there
needs to be outreach to explain how environmental review processes,
including section 106 review, provide opportunities for the public to
comment on the climate dimensions of projects as they arise. Such
educational efforts are important to help ensure the public can
effectively advocate for protecting historic properties of importance
to them.
Collaboration
15. Cooperative efforts across agencies, between levels of
government, and within communities are critically important. The
impacts of climate change on historic properties are so wide-ranging
and potentially severe that collaboration among public-serving
institutions, including federal, Tribal, state, and local governments,
community groups, and nonprofit organizations, is essential. Likewise,
collaboration with those in the environmental, infrastructure,
transportation, energy, private, and philanthropic sectors will be
necessary for progress. Cooperation and forging of partnerships will
enhance implementation of each of the principles discussed above.
Federal agencies can take a leadership role in this regard through
their own collaborative work and by encouraging such work through
funding and technical assistance.
Glossary
Adaptation: Adjustment in natural or human systems to a
new or changing environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or
moderates negative effects. (U.S. Global Change Research Program Web
Site Glossary)
Climate change-related migration: Migration that can be
attributed largely to the slow-onset impacts of climate change on
livelihoods owing to shifts in water availability and crop
productivity, or to factors such as sea level rise or storm surge.
(White House Report on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration, 2021)
Community-driven relocation: Moving a community or
portions of a community away from a hazard prone area to a new location
with lesser exposure to hazards or their impacts. (Department of
Housing and Urban Development's Climate Resilience Implementation
Guide: Community Driven Relocation, 2022)
Historic property: Any prehistoric or historic district,
site, building, structure, or object included in, or eligible for
inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places maintained by
the Secretary of the Interior. This term includes artifacts, records,
and remains that are related to and located within such properties. The
term includes properties of traditional religious and cultural
importance to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and that
meet the National Register criteria. (Protection of Historic
Properties, 36 CFR part 800)
Mitigation: Measures to reduce the amount and speed of
future climate change by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases or
removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (U.S. Global Change
Research Program Web Site Glossary) [To avoid confusion, this policy
statement does not employ the
[[Page 51338]]
term ``mitigation'' as used in the context of section 106 review, where
it means reducing the severity of a project's adverse effects to
historic properties.]
Resiliency/resilient: A capability to anticipate, prepare
for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with
minimum damage to social well-being, the economy, and the environment.
(U.S. Global Change Research Program Web Site Glossary)
Adopted June 16, 2023.
(End of Document)
Authority: 54 U.S.C. 304102(a).
Dated: July 31, 2023.
Javier Marques,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023-16569 Filed 8-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-K6-P
