The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
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The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
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Last updated: 04/04/03
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An agreement aimed at streamlining procedures for reviewing federal actions for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act was signed today by the heads of the Bureau of Land Management, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
Sylvia Baca, Interim Director for the BLM hailed the agreement as a model of Federal and State cooperation.
"This agreement represents good government -- at the local and State level, as well as the federal level," she said. "Everyone, including public land users, benefits when we sit down together to find better ways of doing business."
Baca said the agreement paves the way for cutting the time it takes utility companies, oil and gas operators, and others seeking permits from BLM to receive responses to their applications.
"At the same time, it will relieve State Historic Preservation Officers of the burden of reviewing thousands of routine requests a year, while ensuring that the spirit and intent of the National Historic Preservation Act are followed," Baca said.
The national agreement is based on successful statewide BLM agreements in several western states.
"The states support BLM's move to fully integrate historic preservation into the day-to-day management of its programs," said Judith Bittner, President of the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. "We are pleased that BLM worked so closely with the States in crafting this agreement."
Baca said that, by law, the BLM must consider, plan for, protect and enhance historic properties that may be affected by other land uses. She said that last year, for example, the BLM considered 8,500 proposed actions that required review for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. Deciding about these actions involved nearly 5,000 consultations with State Historic Preservation Officers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The new agreement is expected to reduce the number of case-specific consultations required to about 200 a year. The BLM will now handle reviews for routine requests, saving land use applicants an average of one-and-a-half to three weeks in the total time it takes for their applications to be approved.
"This agreement represents the Council's renewed focus on truly advising Federal agencies in the preservation process," said Cathryn H. Slater, Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. "The Council members want to return to the goals of the law and, in the Administration's spirit of reinventing government, to work closely with the BLM director to improve the effectiveness and consistency of the BLM's preservation policies and programs."
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