Environmental Review Training Equips NSP Grantees

Students intently focus on the instruction concerning environmental reviews.

On the right, Sandra Frye, Environmental Officer serving Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi, provides some additional insight

The sounds of shuffling paper and the intense and absorbed expressions on the faces of over 45 attendees from throughout the Southeast reflect the real world impact HUD Region IV environmental review training has on their localities' abilities to commit HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding to HUD projects.

Local government participants from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians joined HUD staff and consultants in the intense two-day environmental review training in Atlanta.

"The Region IV Environmental Team conduct 3-4 trainings per year, however, we had more individuals who requested to attend this training than any in the past due to the additional NSP funding that has been awarded and the time frame that they have to expend the funds" said Environmental Officer Sandra Frye.

The training is required so that grantees can obtain the capacity needed to ensure compliance with the environmental review requirements of 24 CFR Part 58, Environmental Review Procedures for Entities Assuming HUD Environmental Responsibilities. HUD is the only federal agency that delegates the environmental review responsibility to state and local governments.

The regulations mandate that state and local governments that receive HUD funding must develop the capacity to assume environmental liability for Part 58 programs (CDBG, HOME, ESG, HOPE VI, etc).

For more information, go to HUD's website.

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