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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 11, 1997
EXECUTIVE ORDER
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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.
(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.
(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;
(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) provide, once a river is designated an American Heritage River and
at the community's request, a single representative called a "River
Navigator" with whom 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.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 11, 1997.
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