PROTECTING CULTURAL RESOURCES IN MANAGING CHEMICAL POLLUTION

Historic properties are tangible and intangible remains of previous cultures and populations. Also called cultural resources, they include such properties as buried prehistoric sites, historic structures, and Indian religious sites. Several laws protect cultural resources from damage resulting from actions undertaken, licensed, financed, and proposed by the Federal Government. The National Historic Preservation Act and its implementing regulations are of particular concern in managing chemical pollution. In discussing cultural resources in the context of environmental assessments and managing chemical pollution, there are four main issues to address: the identification of cultural resources and assessment of their significance; the regulations that require agencies to consider the impacts of their activities on cultural resources; the protection of cultural resources as an environmental issue in the management of chemical pollution; and the defensible balancing of cultural significance against risk and economic burden.