Federal Register, Volume 62 Issue 178 (Monday, September 15, 1997)
[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 178 (Monday, September 15, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 48445-48448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24591]
[[Page 48443]]
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Part IV
The President
_______________________________________________________________________
Executive Order 13061--Federal Support of Community Efforts Along
American Heritage Rivers
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 178 / Monday, September 15, 1997 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 48445]]
Executive Order 13061 of September 11, 1997
Federal Support of Community Efforts Along
American Heritage Rivers
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-190), and in order to
protect and restore rivers and their adjacent
communities, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policies.
(a) The American Heritage Rivers initiative has
three objectives: natural resource and environmental
protection, economic revitalization, and historic and
cultural preservation.
(b) Executive agencies (``agencies''), to the
extent permitted by law and consistent with their
missions and resources, shall coordinate Federal plans,
functions, programs, and resources to preserve,
protect, and restore rivers and their associated
resources important to our history, culture, and
natural heritage.
(c) Agencies shall develop plans to bring increased
efficiencies to existing and authorized programs with
goals that are supportive of protection and restoration
of communities along rivers.
(d) In accordance with Executive Order 12630,
agencies shall act with due regard for the protection
of private property provided for by the Fifth Amendment
to the United States Constitution. No new regulatory
authority is created as a result of the American
Heritage Rivers initiative. This initiative will not
interfere with matters of State, local, and tribal
government jurisdiction.
(e) In furtherance of these policies, the President
will designate rivers that meet certain criteria as
``American Heritage Rivers.''
(f) It is the policy of the Federal Government that
communities shall nominate rivers as American Heritage
Rivers and the Federal role will be solely to support
community-based efforts to preserve, protect, and
restore these rivers and their communities.
(g) Agencies should, to the extent practicable,
help identify resources in the private and nonprofit
sectors to aid revitalization efforts.
(h) Agencies are encouraged, to the extent
permitted by law, to develop partnerships with State,
local, and tribal governments and community and
nongovernmental organizations. Agencies will be
responsive to the diverse needs of different kinds of
communities from the core of our cities to remote rural
areas and shall seek to ensure that the role played by
the Federal Government is complementary to the plans
and work being carried out by State, local, and tribal
governments. To the extent possible, Federal resources
will be strategically directed to complement resources
being spent by these governments.
(i) Agencies shall establish a method for field
offices to assess the success of the American Heritage
River initiative and provide a means to recommend
changes that will improve the delivery and
accessibility of Federal services and programs.
Agencies are directed, where appropriate, to reduce and
make more flexible procedural requirements and
paperwork related to providing assistance to
communities along designated rivers.
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(j) Agencies shall commit to a policy under which
they will seek to ensure that their actions have a
positive effect on the natural, historic, economic, and
cultural resources of American Heritage River
communities. The policy will require agencies to
consult with American Heritage River communities early
in the planning stages of Federal actions, take into
account the communities' goals and objectives and
ensure that actions are compatible with the overall
character of these communities. Agencies shall seek to
ensure that their help for one community does not
adversely affect neighboring communities. Additionally,
agencies are encouraged to develop formal and informal
partnerships to assist communities. Local Federal
facilities, to the extent permitted by law and
consistent with the agencies' missions and resources,
should provide public access, physical space, technical
assistance, and other support for American Heritage
River communities.
(k) In addition to providing support to designated
rivers, agencies will work together to provide
information and services to all communities seeking
support.
Sec. 2. Process for Nominating an American Heritage
River.
(a) Nomination. Communities, in coordination with
their State, local, or tribal governments, can nominate
their river, river stretch, or river confluence for
designation as an American Heritage River. When several
communities are involved in the nomination of the same
river, nominations will detail the coordination among
the interested communities and the role each will play
in the process. Individuals living outside the
community may not nominate a river.
(b) Selection Criteria. Nominations will be judged
based on the following:
(1) the characteristics of the natural, economic,
agricultural, scenic, historic, cultural, or
recreational resources of the river that render it
distinctive or unique;
(2) the effectiveness with which the community has
defined its plan of action and the extent to which the
plan addresses, either through planned actions or past
accomplishments, all three American Heritage Rivers
objectives, which are set forth in section 1(a) of this
order;
(3) the strength and diversity of community support
for the nomination as evidenced by letters from elected
officials; landowners; private citizens; businesses;
and especially State, local, and tribal governments.
Broad community support is essential to receiving the
American Heritage River designation; and
(4) willingness and capability of the community to
forge partnerships and agreements to implement their
plan to meet their goals and objectives.
(c) Recommendation Process.
The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality
(``CEQ'') shall develop a fair and objective procedure
to obtain the views of a diverse group of experts for
the purpose of making recommendations to the President
as to which rivers shall be designated. These experts
shall reflect a variety of viewpoints, such as those
representing natural, cultural, and historic resources;
scenic, environmental, and recreation interests;
tourism, transportation, and economic development
interests; and industries such as agriculture,
hydropower, manufacturing, mining, and forest
management. The Chair of the CEQ will ensure that the
rivers recommended represent a variety of stream sizes,
diverse geographical locations, and a wide range of
settings from urban to rural and ensure that relatively
pristine, successful revitalization efforts are
considered as well as degraded rivers in need of
restoration.
(d) Designation.
(1) The President will designate certain rivers as
American Heritage Rivers. Based on the receipt of a
sufficient number of qualified nominations, ten rivers
will be designated in the first phase of the
initiative.
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(2) The Interagency Committee provided for in
section 3 of this order shall develop a process by
which any community that nominates and has its river
designated may have this designation terminated at its
request.
(3) Upon a determination by the Chair of the CEQ
that a community has failed to implement its plan, the
Chair may recommend to the President that a designation
be revoked. The Chair shall notify the community at
least 30 days prior to making such a recommendation to
the President. Based on that recommendation, the
President may revoke the designation.
Sec. 3. Establishment of an Interagency Committee.
There is hereby established the American Heritage
Rivers Interagency Committee (``Committee''). The
Committee shall have two co-chairs. The Chair of the
CEQ shall be a permanent co-chair. The other co-chair
will rotate among the heads of the agencies listed
below.
(a) The Committee shall be composed of the
following members or their designees at the Assistant
Secretary level or equivalent:
(1) The Secretary of Defense;
(2) The Attorney General;
(3) The Secretary of the Interior;
(4) The Secretary of Agriculture;
(5) The Secretary of Commerce;
(6) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
(7) The Secretary of Transportation;
(8) The Secretary of Energy;
(9) The Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency;
(10) The Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation;
(11) The Chairperson of the National Endowment for
the Arts; and
(12) The Chairperson of the National Endowment for
the Humanities.
The Chair of the CEQ may invite to participate in
meetings of the Committee, representatives of other
agencies, as appropriate.
(b) The Committee shall:
(1) establish formal guidelines for designation as
an American Heritage River;
(2) periodically review the actions of agencies in
support of the American Heritage Rivers;
(3) report to the President on the progress,
accomplishments, and effectiveness of the American
Heritage Rivers initiative; and
(4) perform other duties as directed by the Chair
of the CEQ.
Sec. 4. Responsibilities of the Federal Agencies.
Consistent with Title I of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, agencies shall:
(a) identify their existing programs and plans that
give them the authority to offer assistance to
communities involved in river conservation and
community health and revitalization;
(b) to the extent practicable and permitted by law
and regulation, refocus programs, grants, and technical
assistance to provide support for communities adjacent
to American Heritage Rivers;
(c) identify all technical tools, including those
developed for purposes other than river conservation,
that can be applied to river protection, restoration,
and community revitalization;
(d) provide access to existing scientific data and
information to the extent permitted by law and
consistent with the agencies mission and resources;
(e) cooperate with State, local, and tribal
governments and communities with respect to their
activities that take place in, or affect the area
around, an American Heritage River;
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(f) commit to a policy, as set forth in section
1(j) of this order, in making decisions affecting the
quality of an American Heritage River;
(g) select from among all the agencies a single
individual called the ``River Navigator,'' for each
river that is designated an American Heritage River,
with whom the communities can communicate goals and
needs and who will facilitate community-agency
interchange;
(h) allow public access to the river, for agencies
with facilities along American Heritage Rivers, to the
extent practicable and consistent with their mission;
and
(i) cooperate, as appropriate, with communities on
projects that protect or preserve stretches of the
river that are on Federal property or adjacent to a
Federal facility.
Sec. 5. Responsibilities of the Committee and the
Council on Environmental Quality. The CEQ shall serve
as Executive agent for the Committee, and the CEQ and
the Committee shall ensure the implementation of the
policies and purposes of this initiative.
Sec. 6. Definition. For the purposes of this order,
Executive agency means any agency on the Committee and
such other agency as may be designated by the
President.
Sec. 7. Judicial Review. This order does not create any
right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable by any party against the United States, its
agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or
employees, or any other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 11, 1997.
[FR Doc. 97-24591
Filed 9-12-97; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
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