Sec. 105. Unified Federal review
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Title III of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq. ) is amended by striking section 429 and inserting the following: In order to expedite disaster recovery, the Administrator shall establish a unified interagency review process to ensure compliance with environmental and historical requirements under Federal law, including the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ) and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 ( 54 U.S.C. 300101 et seq. ), relating to projects carried out through assistance provided under this Act, consistent with applicable law.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the FEMA Act of 2025 , and in consultation with the Council on Environmental Quality and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Administrator shall— formulate and implement administrative, procedural, and policy mechanisms to enable the Federal Emergency Management Agency to act as the lead agency ensuring completion of the environmental and historical review process for projects in a timely, coordinated, and responsible manner; carry out the obligations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency with respect to a project under any other applicable law concurrently, and in conjunction with, other environmental and historical reviews and authorizations being conducted by other cooperating and participating agencies, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the lead agency; and in the case in which an environmental impact statement is required for a project, prepare one document under section 107(b) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4336a(b) ) for such project unless the lead agency provides justification in the coordinated project plan that multiple environmental documents are more efficient for project review and authorization.
As early as practicable during an environmental and historical review, but not later than the commencement of scoping for a project requiring the preparation of an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ), the lead agency shall engage the cooperating agencies to determine the range of reasonable alternatives to be considered for a project. The lead agency and each cooperating and participating agency shall work cooperatively to identify and resolve issues that could delay completion of an environmental and historical review or authorization required for the project under applicable law or result in the denial of any approval under applicable law, including— the need for mitigation actions justified by the risk of natural hazards that are consistent with the geographic area in which the major disaster occurred; and compliance challenges that may arise as a result of the ongoing recovery from a major disaster.
The lead agency shall determine the range of reasonable alternatives for consideration in any document that the lead agency is responsible for preparing in the environmental and historical review for the project. The lead agency shall determine, in collaboration with each cooperating and participating agency at appropriate times during the review, the methodologies to be used and the level of detail required in the analysis of each alternative determined under paragraph
(3)for a project. The lead agency (as such term is defined in section 111 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4336e )) shall make information available to each cooperating and participating agency and State as early as practicable in the environmental and historical review regarding the environmental, historic, and socioeconomic resources located within the project area and the general locations of the alternatives determined under paragraph
(3)under consideration. As early as practicable during an environmental and historical review, cooperating and participating agencies (as such terms are defined in section 111 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4336e )) shall identify any issues of concern regarding any potential environmental or historical impacts of the project, including any issues that could substantially delay or prevent an agency from completing any environmental or historical review or authorization required for the project, and communicate any issues to the State. The lead agency shall establish a comment period of not less than 45 days and not more than 60 days after the date on which a notice announcing availability of the environmental impact statement is published in the Federal Register to solicit comments from an agency or the public on a draft environmental impact statement, unless— the lead agency, the State, and any cooperating agency agree to a longer deadline; or the lead agency, in consultation with each cooperating agency, extends the deadline for good cause. Not later than 90 days after the date on which a final environmental impact statement is issued, Federal agencies shall, to the maximum extent practicable, issue a record of decision for such environmental impact statement. The authorities granted under this section may be exercised for an individual project or a category of projects. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the applicability of section 316 to projects eligible under such section. .
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