Federal Emergency Management Agency
PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Assessment
For the Water Supply Resiliency Project for SRU Pump Station Along Yadkin River in Salisbury, North Carolina
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hereby gives notice to the public of its intent to assist in the funding of a project located in the City of Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. This notice applies to the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program application for constructing a water intake structure along the Yadkin River. BRIC grant program is authorized under Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act).
This public notice concerns activities pertaining to the efforts to construct resilient drinking water supply infrastructure for residential and commercial customers in the municipalities of Salisbury, Granite Quarry, Spencer, East Spencer, China Grove, Rockwell, and some unincorporated areas within Rowan County, North Carolina. The City of Salisbury proposes to include abandonment of the existing water intake structures (35.747004, -80.459930 and 35.747138, -80.459790) and raw water pump station (35.746665, -80.461232) and the construction of a new combined intake structure and raw water pump station (35.741600, -80.458413), access road (35.741019, -80.459904), access bridge (35.741140, -80.459536), and raw water main line (Start: 35.741265, -80.463804, End: 35.741140, -80.459536) to drinking water supply resiliency during storm events. To achieve this, the pump station needs to be relocated to where it can be accessed during storm events and the operating floor can be above the 0.01 annual exceedance probability flood elevation. This water supply serves a population of more than 50,000 customers.
An Environmental Assessment (EA) has been drafted in accordance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 1500-1508) and regulations adopted pursuant to the Department of Homeland Security Directive 023-01, Rev 01, and FEMA Directive 108-1. An alternatives analysis was performed, which included the evaluation of the proposed action and the no action alternative. Further detailed descriptions of all alternatives may be reviewed in the draft EA conducted by FEMA or by contacting FEMA-R4EHP@fema.dhs.gov for a copy. The draft EA is available for public comment and can be viewed on FEMA’s and the applicant’s website at the following locations:
FEMA WEBSITE LOCATION:
CITY OF SALISBURY WEBSITE LOCATION: www.salisburync.gov/EnvironmentalAssessment
A hardcopy of the draft EA is available for review at Salisbury Rowan Utilities located at 1 Water St, Salisbury, NC 28144, during the following hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires federal agencies to consult with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for effects to federally listed threatened and endangered. On January 12, 2023, FEMA initiated informal consultation with USFWS and received concurrence on February 17, 2023, with FEMA's determination that the proposed action may affect Schweinitz's sunflower and Michaux's sumac, but with the identified minimization measures to be followed for work within the Project area, work is not likely to adversely affect these two species.
The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their undertakings on historic properties. FEMA consulted with the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and received concurrence for a determination of No Historic Properties Affected. Tribal consultation letters were submitted to four federally recognized tribes with vested interest in Rowan County, North Carolina. One tribe responded with no adverse effect to resources of interest to the tribes but requested to be notified in the event of unexpected discoveries. One other tribe responded that the project area is outside of their area of interest and had no further comments.
Presidential Executive Orders 11988 and 11990 require that all federal actions in or affecting the floodplain or wetlands be reviewed for opportunities to relocate and evaluated for social, economic, historical, environmental, legal, and safety considerations. The project location is located within a special flood hazard area, per Rowan County Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) number 3710576200L, dated June 16, 2009. Wetlands within the project area were identified using the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), by the online mapping service USFWS Wetlands Mapper. The data shows one large freshwater palustrine forested wetland (PFO1Ah) within the Project area, along Deals Creek and near the proposed access bridge and raw water force main. The Project area also includes perennial (R5UBH) and intermittent (R4SBC) riverine segments that transect the area west to southeast. The presence and extent of these NWI features were field verified as part of the onsite wetland delineation survey conducted by Black & Veatch. Discussion of this survey can be found in the draft EA, and a copy of the survey is available upon request for review of the EA’s appendices. FEMA completed an 8-step decision making process as part of the compliance review and is available upon request for review of the EA’s appendices.
President Biden issued new Executive Orders 13985 and 14008 in January 2021 to further address the need to achieve environmental justice and equity across the federal government. The issuance of the new executive orders more than 20 years after Executive Order 12898 was signed indicates the administration’s directive to federal agencies to renew their energy, effort, resources, and attention to environmental justice. FEMA is working with applicants/subapplicants to identify communities with Environmental Justice concerns and provide an avenue for local groups and non-profits with an Environmental Justice mission to self-identify so that FEMA Programs can start to work with them on specific projects from the beginning of the application process.
This will serve as the final public notice regarding the above-described action funded by the FEMA BRIC grant program. Interested persons may obtain information about these actions by emailing FEMA-R4EHP@fema.dhs.gov. Comments should be sent in writing with the subject line “FEMA BRIC City of Salisbury Water Supply Resiliency Project for SRU Pump Station Along Yadkin River” at the above email address within 30 days of the date of this notice.