Programmatic Environmental Assessment draft, Jan 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

The alternatives rely on the knowledge and experience of the local agency to determine which projects are best suited to New York City’s requirements and preferences. Proposed actions and alternatives have been designed by applicants/grantees to meet specific needs at the project areas. FEMA encourages applicants/grantees to solicit assistance from local specialized engineers, counter-terrorism planning experts, and other scientists when designing alternatives. Once alternative'^ are developed. Federal and State agency c. ordination to assist in identifying resources at specific sites and determine impacts to those resources is required as a part of each SEA.

There are several important clarifications regarding the scope of alternatives evaluated in this documents:

• The proposed actions evaluated in this document focus on interim repairs and recovery projects. The PEA accommodates long-term and large-scale projects such as reconstruction of major buildings/facilities, realignment of subways turuiels, and mitigation actions not in the vicinity of the impacted area; however, these actions may require additional NEPA review.

• The projects evaluated by this PEA focus on the World Trade Center site and surrounding areas of lower Manhattan. Although projects may be identified in the other New York City boroughs, these would require additional NEPA review beyond the scope of this document based on substantially different resource issues in those areas not covered in this document.

The following describes the alternatives are covered by this PEA.

2.3 DESCRIPTION OF REPLACEMENT PROJECTS

2.3.1 Utilities

No Action Alternative

Under the No Action Alternative, no FEMA funds would be made available to restoration of utilities. If local governments were unable to implement the proposed actions without Federal assistance, continued lack of services would continue, and economic impacts would become increasingly severe for the businesses and residents of the impacted area.

Proposed Action Alternative

The Proposed Action consists of several methods to restore utility services to the area. The primary utilities impacted include water mains, sewer lines, natural gas, steam, fuel oil, electric, and telephone lines. Based on the ownership issues in New York City, coordination is required to take place to allow for road cuts and to allow for work on multiple utilities to occur simultaneously in one area. The primary alternatives for any work related to utilities would include:

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