§ 10.4 - Policy.

(a) FEMA shall act with care to assure that, in carrying out its responsibilities, including disaster planning, response and recovery and hazard mitigation and flood insurance, it does so in a manner consistent with national environmental policies. Care shall be taken to assure, consistent with other considerations of national policy, that all practical means and measures are used to protect, restore, and enhance the quality of the environment, to avoid or minimize adverse environmental consequences, and to attain the objectives of:

(1) Achieving use of the environment without degradation, or undesirable and unintended consequences;

(2) Preserving historic, cultural and natural aspects of national heritage and maintaining, wherever possible, an environment that supports diversity and variety of individual choice;

(3) Achieving a balance between resource use and development within the sustained carrying capacity of the ecosystem involved; and

(4) Enhancing the quality of renewable resources and working toward the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources.

(b) FEMA shall:

(1) Assess environmental consequences of FEMA actions in accordance with §§10.9 and 10.10 of this part and parts 1500 through 1508 of the CEQ regulations;

(2) Use a systematic, interdisciplinary approach that will ensure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences, and environmental considerations, in planning and decisionmaking where there is a potential for significant environmental impact;

(3) Ensure that presently unmeasured environmental amenities are considered in the decisionmaking process;

(4) Consider reasonable alternatives to recommended courses of action in any proposal that involves conflicts concerning alternative uses of resources; and

(5) Make available to States, counties, municipalities, institutions and individuals advice and information useful in restoring, maintaining, and enhancing the quality of the environment.