With all these stimulus projects coming down the road, the Society for American Archaeology has raised the issue of agencies having sufficient funding and personnel to perform NEPA and NHPA compliance. The SAA is concerned about the "haste" to implement economic relief and feels the Obama administration's efforts to ensure NHPA compliance have been "cursory, at best." They also doubt that many of the stimulus projects are "shovel-read", i.e. that they have "completed all their NEPA and NHPA reviews."
The SAA has expressed their concerns in a letter to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. You can read their letter here.
So, will the government comply with their own laws? Will historic preservation and environmental reviews hold up many of these projects? Will the enviro's sue over NEPA compliance? How many new jobs for archaeologists will be created in this spending frenzy?
It will be interesting to watch.
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