Executive Order — Action Needed

President Trump signed an Executive Order on June 4 directing federal agencies to waive environmental regulations to speed up infrastructure projects under the auspices of responding to the “economic emergency” presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is that the Order does not attempt to create a blanket waiver of environmental regulations but is limited to directing agencies to use existing emergency authorities to expedite projects.

Nonetheless, the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) and our historic preservation partners have great concerns that agencies will invoke the Executive Order to limit public involvement in federal projects, to deprive tribes of their rights to government-to-government consultation, and to limit consideration of impacts to historical archaeological sites and other heritage resources. 

Please go the following link to learn more about this Executive Order:
https://heritagecoalition.org/coalition-analyzes-executive-order-curtailing-public-involvement-in-federal-permitting/

How You Can Help: Let us know when you see agencies attempting to invoke this Executive Order on projects on which you work or on projects you hear about. We need to know how the Order is being applied so that we can formulate the most effective responses. Send any information on such projects to both Terry Klein at tklein@srifoundation.org and Marion Werkheiser at marion@culturalheritagepartners.com

Thank you!