TAKE ACTION! Contact your Senator To Protect Historic Preservation Review

Congress is currently considering legislation that includes a provision that threatens the protection of historic places.  The provision would exempt the Trinity River Flood Control project in Dallas, Texas, from critical historic preservation review procedures – the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act.  Both NHPA and Section 4(f) have been used for decades to help important development projects move forward without harming historic places and have been instrumental in saving a wide range of places from Fort McHenry to New Orleans’ French Quarter.  This exemption from review is not just problematic for protection of historic places in the Dallas area, it sets a dangerous precedent that undermines critical preservation safeguards across the country.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Your Senator is on the Appropriations Committee that will soon be considering this legislation.   Ask them to NOT include the historic preservation exemptions currently in Chapter 4, Section 405 of HR 4899, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010.