Emergency Environmental Compliance Reviews In the Southeast

During any emergency, NOAA Fisheries’ primary objective is to provide technical advice and recommendations, including Best Management Practices and other guidance, for minimizing or addressing the adverse effects of emergency response activities on our trust resources.  Federal action agencies which fund, permit, or carry out activities that may affect threatened or endangered species, their critical habitat, or essential fish habitat, are required to consult with NOAA Fisheries regarding the potential impacts of their actions on these trust resources.  The Southeast Regional Office offers expedited consultations during urgent emergency situations involving an act of God, disasters, casualties, and national defense or security emergencies.  Included are response activities which must be taken during hazardous material clean-up, response to natural disasters, or actions to protect public safety.  These emergency consultations are intended to enable Federal agencies to complete their critical missions in a timely manner while minimizing the adverse effects of response activities on our trust resources, recognizing that public safety takes precedence if there is a conflict between the two.  We do not offer expedited consultation services for remedial actions or mitigation activities that are taken after an emergency situation has ended that are intended to address damages that occurred during the emergency.

• Click here to access our Endangered Species Act emergency consultation page
• Click here to access our Essential Fish Habitat consultation page.  

Emergency Endangered Species Act and essential fish habitat consultations can be initiated by emailing the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office at nmfs.ser.emergency.consult@noaa.gov.  Federal agencies should contact us early in response planning, but may consult after-the-fact, if consultation on an expedited basis is not practicable before taking an emergency response action.