Proposed Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities (Tribal and NHO)

The ACHP is developing a Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities that aims to provide federal agencies with an alternate way to comply with their responsibilities under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Drawing from recently adopted ACHP policy statements and guided in part by the mechanisms, provisions, and approaches in prior program alternatives and by preliminary public feedback, the draft Program Comment addresses federal undertakings related to three interrelated sectors: housing, climate-smart buildings, and climate-friendly transportation. The ACHP has entered a period of consultation with Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and members of the public, and invites interested parties to participate in relevant opportunities, as further provided below.

Background

The development of this Program Comment is driven by the nation’s pressing needs to produce and rehabilitate affordable, accessible, energy-efficient, and hazard-free housing; to reduce its energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, improve climate resilience, and cut energy costs; and to decarbonize its transportation sector—needs that have received high levels of attention from Congress, as well as state, local, and Tribal governments and private parties.

Recognizing these needs, in 2023, the ACHP adopted its Housing and Historic Preservation Policy Statement and its Climate Change and Historic Preservation Policy Statement, which committed the ACHP to explore new opportunities to utilize the federal historic preservation review process to enable federal agencies to advance historic preservation while meeting the nation’s housing and climate goals. These policy statements reflect increasing public awareness that historic preservation strategies–and historic properties themselves–can play an important role in addressing the three interrelated sectors covered in the draft Program Comment. 

A program comment is one of five types of program alternatives available in the Section 106 regulations to tailor approaches to achieve the requirements of Section 106. A program comment allows the ACHP to comment on certain categories of undertakings in lieu of commenting on a case-by-case basis. Program comments can help federal agencies more efficiently handle repetitive actions across large inventories and on a nationwide basis, and they can provide clarity for the specific treatment of undertakings.

Proposed Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities

The proposed Program Comment would help accelerate the review of federal agency actions to rehabilitate existing housing or create new housing in existing buildings, to maintain and update buildings and their immediate environs in response to climate concerns, and to rehabilitate or develop new climate-friendly transportation infrastructure. A brief rationale for the inclusion of each of these topics in the Program Comment, and an overview of its treatment in the Program Comment and potential effect, follows.

Housing: The United States has an aging housing stock, with half of existing housing units built before 1979. Rehabilitations, including energy retrofits, ensure older and historic homes meet modern needs. At the same time, conversions of nonresidential historic buildings for housing create new homes for people who need them. The proposed Program Comment would encourage the efficient, effective, environmentally sustainable, and continued use of historic properties to satisfy the nation’s housing needs by addressing Section 106 review requirements for housing-related activities such as routine maintenance and repair, interior renovations, mechanical upgrades, and environmental hazard remediation. The Program Comment could benefit many of the 1 million households living in 190,000 public housing buildings in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s portfolio, and the people housed in housing units supported by the Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture, and many other federal agencies.

Climate-Smart Buildings: In the United States, more than a third of greenhouse emissions comes from the building sector, and buildings use 75 percent of the electricity generated annually. At the same time, buildings–including the approximately 40 percent of America’s building stock that is at least 50 years old – are at risk from a broad range of potential climate change impacts, including sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather events, increased wildfires, drought, melting permafrost, erosion, and extreme heat. The proposed Program Comment aims to facilitate climate-smart buildings in two ways. First, it would streamline review processes for certain projects that reduce the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of buildings, contributing to the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of making zero emissions buildings common practice by 2030, while also smoothing delivery of building decarbonization projects receiving Inflation Reduction Act funding. Second, it aims to promote climate resiliency measures that protect buildings and communities from the extreme weather becoming more frequent due to climate change.

Climate-Friendly Transportation: The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, responsible for about one-third of all emissions. Historic neighborhoods benefit from walking, biking, micromobility, and transit infrastructure, because this “climate-friendly” transportation infrastructure supports vibrant and accessible neighborhoods, while reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions and pollution when compared to other means of transportation. The proposed Program Comment is tailored to facilitate climate-friendly transportation infrastructure that can help decarbonize the transportation sector, bring economic benefits to historic neighborhoods, and meet short-term needs to accelerate the delivery of more than $10 billion of Department of Transportation funding for safe routes to schools, recreational trails, and new bicycle paths, among other activities.

The proposed Program Comment would apply to all agencies proposing to carry out, permit, license, fund, assist, or approve the covered undertakings which elect to use it. It would include safeguards to protect historic properties, such as excluding any undertakings involving highly significant properties, including National Historic Landmarks and properties of religious and cultural significance to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations (NHOs). It would be guided by the provisions and approaches in prior program alternatives that are consistent with the ACHP’s Housing and Historic Preservation Policy Statement and Climate Change and Historic Preservation Policy Statement. The proposed Program Comment would apply these provisions and approaches more broadly than the program-specific or agency-specific program alternatives developed in the past.  

Draft Proposed Program Comment (link)

Consultation with Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations

In developing this Program Comment, the ACHP invites Indian Tribes to consult on a government-to-government basis and also invites consultation with NHOs. The ACHP has determined that this proposal requires compliance with Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments. Therefore, the ACHP developed a Tribal Consultation Plan for the proposed Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities and will host virtual consultation meetings with Tribal and Native Hawaiian leaders on September 9 and September 25. In accordance with the Tribal Consultation Plan, the ACHP will post the presentation and notes from the consultation meeting here following the meeting.

Tribal and NHO Consultation Information:

Tribal Consultation Plan developed by the ACHP for Proposed Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities

Tribal and NHO representatives may register for the following consultation meetings to discuss and provide comments on the draft using the links below:

Tribal and NHO Consultation, Monday, September 9, 4:00 – 6:00 PM Eastern time

Tribal and NHO Consultation, Wednesday, September 25, 4:00 – 6:00 PM Eastern time

Consultation and Public Participation

To refine the scope of this proposed program comment, the ACHP convened a series of public and Tribal engagement meetings in June and invited written feedback via its mailing lists and social media channels.

Federal Preservation Officers and State Historic Preservation Officers have been invited to consult on the proposed Program Comment in dedicated meetings announced via email to these groups.

All consulting parties are invited to participate in consultation meetings to discuss the draft Program Comment on September 13 or September 16. Register for these meetings using the links below:

Consultation Meeting on Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities (all consulting parties), Friday, September 13, 1:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern time

Consultation Meeting on Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities (all consulting parties), Monday, September 16, 4:00 – 6:00 PM Eastern time

Members of the public may listen to these meetings but are encouraged to provide any written comments on the draft Program Comment to program_alternatives@achp.gov.

The Housing and Historic Preservation Policy Statement and the Climate Change and Historic Preservation Policy Statement recognize that the accessibility of housing and a healthy environment are closely linked with other social determinants of health and environmental justice goals, and further recognize the need to take into account the views of members of disadvantaged and underserved communities, as well as members of communities with environmental justice concerns. Members of such groups are especially encouraged to participate in this process and provide feedback.

Written feedback or questions on the proposed Program Comment may be sent to program_alternatives@achp.gov through October 9.