[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 20 (Friday, January 31, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8747-8750]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02174]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 20 / Friday, January 31, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 8747]]
Executive Order 14181 of January 24, 2025
Emergency Measures To Provide Water Resources in
California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain
Areas
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Policy. For weeks, residents of the Los
Angeles area have watched raging fires consume their
homes, belongings, beloved pets, and childhood
memories. Almost immediately, firefighters were unable
to fight the blaze due to dry hydrants, empty
reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure. Today,
at least 28 people have lost their lives and thousands
more have lost everything else, with some damage
estimates calculating hundreds of billions of dollars
in damage.
This tragedy affects the entire Nation, so it is in the
Nation's interest to ensure that California has what it
needs to prevent and fight these fires and others in
the future. Therefore, it is the policy of the United
States to provide Southern California with necessary
water resources, notwithstanding actively harmful State
or local policies. And it is the policy of the United
States to assist Americans in disaster areas through
responsive policies that more effectively empower them
to rebuild and regain their livelihoods.
Sec. 2. Overriding Disastrous California Policies. (a)
The Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the
Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of
Commerce, the Secretary of the Interior, and the
Secretary of Agriculture shall expeditiously take all
measures, consistent with all applicable authorities,
to ensure adequate water resources in Southern
California. Each shall report to me within 15 days on
all authorities, including emergency authorities,
available to ensure, require, maintain, or use
infrastructure necessary to fight and prevent massive
wildfires in Southern California.
(b) In particular, the Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Commerce shall immediately take
actions to override existing activities that unduly
burden efforts to maximize water deliveries. The
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce
shall consider actions including those consistent with
the ``No Action Alternative'' in the Final
Environmental Impact Statement issued November 15,
2024, by the Bureau of Reclamation on Long-term
Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water
Project.
(c) The Secretary of the Interior, including
through the Bureau of Reclamation, shall utilize his
discretion to operate the CVP to deliver more water and
produce additional hydropower, including by increasing
storage and conveyance, and jointly operating federal
and state facilities, to high-need communities,
notwithstanding any contrary State or local laws. The
Bureau of Reclamation shall take all available measures
to ensure that State agencies--including the California
Department of Water Resources--do not interfere with
the Bureau of Reclamation's operation of the project to
maximize water delivery to high-need communities or
otherwise, including but not limited to the issuance of
a new Record of Decision maximizing water deliveries
and consistent with the 2020 Record of Decision.
(d) In accordance with section 6 of the Executive
Order of January 20, 2025 (Declaring a National Energy
Emergency), the Secretary of the Interior, through the
Bureau of Reclamation, and in accordance with section
1536 of title 16 United States Code, shall expedite
action related to any exemption under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973 (ESA), 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.,
[[Page 8748]]
for the Long-Term Operation of the CVP and the State
Water Project for all applicable threatened and
endangered species.
(e) The Secretary of the Interior shall promptly
review, revise, or rescind any regulations or
procedures specific to implementation of section 1536
of title 16 United States Code, as needed and
consistent with applicable law, to conform with the
plain meaning of the statute.
(f) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary
of Commerce shall identify all ongoing or potential
major water-supply and storage projects within the
State of California for which they have joint
responsibility under the ESA or individual
responsibilities under the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.
(g) For each such project identified under
subsection (f), the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Commerce shall each designate one federal
official to coordinate each agency's respective NEPA
and ESA compliance responsibilities. Within 30 days
from the date of this order, each designated official
shall identify any regulatory hurdles that unduly
burden each respective water project, identify any
recent changes in state or Federal law that may impact
such projects from a regulatory perspective (including
Public Law 118-5), and shall develop a proposed plan,
for review by the Secretaries, to appropriately
suspend, revise, or rescind any regulations or
procedures that unduly burden such projects and are not
necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise
comply with the law. In so doing, each designated
federal official will coordinate and share all
appropriate information that will enable improved
efficiencies. For the purposes of this order, ``unduly
burden'' means to unnecessarily obstruct, delay,
curtail, impede or otherwise impose significant costs
on the permitting, utilization, transmission, delivery,
or supply of water resources and water infrastructure.
Sec. 3. Ending the Subsidization of California's
Mismanagement. (a) The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) shall review all Federal
programs, projects, and activities for all relevant
agencies that impact land management, water
availability, water supply, water storage and delivery,
water infrastructure, and disaster preparedness and
response.
(b) Within 30 days of the date of this order, to
ensure that State and local jurisdictions promote
sensible land management practices and reliable water
supply for all Americans, the Secretary of the
Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the
Secretary of Commerce shall jointly report to the
President, through the Assistant to the President for
Domestic Policy and Assistant to the President for
Economic Policy, regarding California State and local
policies or practices inconsistent with sound disaster
prevention and response.
(c) The Director of OMB, in consultation with the
Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and
Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, shall
recommend appropriate action to the President,
regarding:
(i) any lack of compliance by California with the terms of existing Federal
grants, contracts, or other financial assistance to States or localities;
and
(ii) beneficial additional terms that may be added with respect to any
future Federal programs, projects, or activities to ensure sound disaster
prevention and response.
Sec. 4. Additional Actions to Help Los Angeles
Families. (a) Housing Displaced Families. The Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of
Homeland Security, through the Administrator of FEMA,
shall expeditiously provide an Integrated Federal
Housing Strategy and Implementation Plan to the
Director of OMB and the Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs that expedites options for
housing relief to survivors displaced by wildfires in
California.
(b) Expediting Waste Removal. Within 5 days from
the date of this order, to accelerate the rebuilding of
areas devastated by the recent Los Angeles wildfires,
the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland
Security,
[[Page 8749]]
through the Administrator of FEMA, and the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
shall develop and execute a plan to expedite the bulk
removal of contaminated and general debris.
(c) Effectively Using Grants to Improve Fire
Preparedness. The Secretary of Homeland Security,
through the Administrator of FEMA, shall immediately
implement a plan to enable the timely and appropriate
use of Federal preparedness grants for the City of Los
Angeles. As of the date of this order, the city has yet
to use the majority of its $213 million allotment that
has accrued since fiscal year 2021. These Federal
preparedness grants shall not be used to support
illegal aliens. The Attorney General, in coordination
with the FEMA Administrator, shall investigate the
misuse of these grants by the City of Los Angeles and
take appropriate action to address such misuse.
Sec. 5. Additional Actions to Help North Carolina
Families. (a) Clearing Roads. To accelerate rebuilding
and community recovery, the Secretary of
Transportation, the Secretary of Homeland Security,
acting through the Administrator of FEMA, and the
Administrator of the Small Business Administration
shall immediately take all necessary and appropriate
measures, including through direct assistance, loans,
and other available means, to expedite roadway
clearance or rebuilding, including the section of
Interstate 40 in North Carolina that remains closed,
and the repair or rebuilding of roads and bridges on
private property in areas of North Carolina affected by
Hurricane Helene.
(b) Housing Displaced Families. The Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of
Homeland Security, through the Administrator of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall immediately
provide an Integrated Federal Housing Strategy and
Implementation Plan to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget and the Assistant to the
President for National Security Affairs that expedites
options for housing relief to survivors displaced by
Hurricane Helene.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
[[Page 8750]]
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 24, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-02174
Filed 1-30-25; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P