#159 CEQ & ACHP Handbook for Integrating NEPA and Section 106

On March 5, 2013 the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) issued a press release detailing their new handbook that was created with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The handbook was created assist interested parties in successfully managing NEPA and Section 106 requirements together.

According to the press release the two agencies came together to reduce the regulatory barriers and work more efficiently for the benefit of the American people. The document goes on to say, “This creates a means to ensure statutory requirements of two important laws are met while strengthening the coordination of two similar but separate processes that frequently should proceed in tandem.”

From the press release:

“For example, review of a project under NEPA would include consideration of the broad range of environmental impacts, ranging from wildlife to air and water quality and including historic and cultural resources. Section 106 of the NHPA would require consideration of how the project might affect the historic resources, such as historic buildings and districts, archaeological sites, and cultural landscapes. The handbook is designed to guide users in coordinating the two mandated reviews to improve efficiency and informed decision making.”

Here is a link to the PDF handbook.

Have you read the handbook? Is it helpful? Questions? Concerns? Let me know what you think in the comments.

​Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the field!

#59 Save the Battle of Blair Mountain Site

“West Virginians Rally for Blair Mountain Preservation, Development” - The State Journal, Charleston, West Virginia

This site is what the 99% and the Occupy movements are fighting for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blair_Mountain_Fighting.jpgIn 1921 10,000 to 15,000 coal miners walked off the job at Blair Mountain.  They were fighting for the right to unionize and demanded safer working conditions in the mines.  It was the nation’s largest labor uprising and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War.  Now, Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Coal want to make it a massive surface mine.

A group calling themselves “Friends of Blair Mountain” collected 26,000 signatures and presented them to the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office on November 1st.

The movement is being led by University of California, Berkeley, PhD. candidate in archaeology, Brandon Nida.  Nida is not trying to prevent any sort of mining on the site, rather, he recommends deep-mining under the site.  

"Keep on talking about Blair Mountain," Nida directed those interested in helping the cause. "Keep on sharing this history with each other. It's amazing history."

Nida feels that the property could be donated or the companies could be given tax credits for the land.

There is an effort to make sure that the mining companies are not financially damaged by the preservation efforts and to try to make everyone happy.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100520-science-environment-blair-mountain-coal-massey-energy-nation/Previous archaeological surveys on the site found 14 sites and more than 1,100 artifacts.  

“This is one of the best-sealed contexts, the best archaeological integrity, as we call it, of any site I’ve ever been to,” said Harvard Ayers, a professor emeritus in archaeology at Appalachian State University.

Ayers was able to get Blair Mountain listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.  By December of that year the site was back off the list.  The article doesn’t say why.  The site is currently eligible for listing which doesn’t provide it the same protection that a true listing would.

A retired union coal miner, Joe Stanley, said that he is a product of Blair Mountain.  “Without Blair Mountain, there would be no middle class in the United States as we understand it,” said Stanley.

"Once the vision of Friends of Blair Mountain is completely realized, Blair Mountain Historic Park will be a fully functioning educational and tourist destination, complete with a Friends of Blair Mountain multipurpose building, battlefield tours, monuments, historic markers, a living history coal, an outdoor amphitheater, lodging, camping, restaurants and retail shops," the proposal for Blair Mountain Historic Park states.

National Geographic covered this story with a great article as well.

With the 99% and all of the Occupy movements going on right now we need to remember where the middle class came from.  We need to remember our roots and honor the people that sacrificed their jobs and sometimes their lives in support for what they believe in.  I hope the Friends of Blair Mountain can reach an agreement with the mining companies.  It would be even better if mountain-top removal mining and coal mining were to go away as newer technology replaces the need for it.  That’s another argument, however.

Handmark

2008  The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (iPad App), Oxford University Press, 2nd ed.   Developed by Handmark, Inc.

Mine Any kind of excavation into the ground for the purpose of extracting some kind of raw material such as stone, metal ore, coal, or flint. The simplest mines are basically pits sunk into the ground to find or follow outcrops of the desired material; these can be described as open‐cast mines. Lines of shallow extraction pits following surface outcrops of metal ore are known as rakes. Deeper, rather cylindrical holes may be described as simple shaft mines. Examples where the shaft is expanded at the bottom to maximize the area available for extracting a particular layer of material are known as bell pits. Shafts that provide access to a series of galleries that follow seams of material underground are known as galleried shaft mines. Pits that run horizontally into a hill slope or cliff following material into the slope are known as adits or drift mines.

The techniques of mining developed steadily from Neolithic times onwards in most parts of the world, the use of fire‐setting and stone mauls being the commonest way of extracting hard rocks until hardened iron or steel tools became available in later medieval times. The use of drills and explosives appears from the 18th century ad. In prehistoric times, soft rock such as gravel or chalk was excavated using bone and antler tools and stone and flint axes. The archaeology of mines and mining is often rather complicated because as well as the underground elements (which are often well preserved) there will be surface structures including spoil heaps, processing areas, working floors, a range of shelters and facilities, drainage works, and perhaps aqueducts, leats, reservoirs, and other water management works where water power was used or where material removed from the mine itself needed to be washed.

#46 Preservationists Push for More Tax Credits

Preservationists Push for More Tax Credits

From the News and Tribune of Indiana, October 5, 2011

Advocates of historic preservation are pushing state lawmakers to expand a tax credit they say will create economic development and help boost restoration of Indiana’s downtowns.

According to Marsh Davis, president of Indiana Landmarks, the Indiana Historic Preservation Tax Credit is ineffective.  The annual allotment of credits is so low that developers must wait more than a decade to reap the tax credit's rewards.  According to Davis, they should be promoting the Tax Credit as a preservation tool but can't because of the backlog.

Lawmakers, though, said that while the tax credit is a worthy program, any expansion would cost the state money at a time when the budget is already tight.

State lawmakers say that paying off the credits that have so far been approved but for a future date would cost almost $5 million.

According to Senator Brandt Hershman (R):

“A tax credit in essence means someone has to pay more in taxes or some program has to be cut to keep a balanced budget,” Hershman said. “I like this program. But how are we going to make this work and keep our fiscal house in order?”

The tax credit was created in 1994.  The credit, "offers users a state income tax credit of up to 20 percent of the cost of the preservation or restoration, up to a maximum of $100,000 per project."  The structure must be at least 50 years old, on the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures, and be income-producing.  The property must be certified by the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

The total amount of credits annually can not be more than $450,000 so credits are pushed into future years.  Legislation introduced in January would have immediately increased the cap to $2 million and increased $2 million every year until the cap reached $10 million per year.  Half of the money would have been used for backlog credits and the other half for new projects.

Sounds good to me.

The state is torn between stimulating economic development but would cost the state more money.

According to Davis, Indiana's tax credit program is the least effective of the 31 states that offer similar programs.

Representatives are worried that the tax credit will mostly be applied in Indianapolis and not state wide.  The program is still under review and no decisions have been made to date.

Are tax credit programs working in your state?  Any problems?  Are there better solutions to encouraging the preservation of historic places in economically ravaged downtown areas?  Interesting story.

Written in Sparks, Nevada

 Handmark

2008  The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (iPad App), Oxford University Press, 2nd ed.   Developed by Handmark, Inc.

Rabotage Excavation technique in which the surface of a deposit is carefully scraped with a trowel, knofe, or sharp spade to reveal features and cuts represented by differences in texture, color, or composition.  The technique is especially useful in silty and sandy soils.