PBR HAWAII prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Makalei Fire Station in North Kona, Hawai‘i in accordance with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) regulations implementing NEPA (44 CFR Part 10).
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the FEMA provided grant funding to non-Federal fire departments and State and local governments through its Fire Station Construction Grant Program (SCG) for the construction, renovation, or modification of fire stations. The County of Hawai‘i was a recipient of SCG grant funding and was seeking to construct the Makalei Fire Station.
As recipients of SCG funding, grantees must comply with Federal requirements as a condition of the grant award. In addition, FEMA is required to consider potential environmental impacts before funding or approving actions and/or projects. Thus, the purpose of the EA was to analyze potential environmental impacts on the quality of the human environment as a result of the proposed project. FEMA used the findings of the EA prepared by PBR HAWAII to issue a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) in September 2010.
The proposed use of State lands and County funds triggered an environmental requirement for the preparation of an EA in compliance with Hawai‘i State law, Chapter 343, HRS. PBR HAWAII completed an earlier Chapter 343, HRS EA/FONSI in April 2008, when no federal funding had been contemplated.
