42 U.S.C. § 5173
Section 5173 · Debris removal
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case McCue v. City of New York (2008)
Most recently applied in In Re World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation (March 2008)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The President, whenever he determines it to be in the public interest, is authorized—
(1) through the use of Federal departments, agencies, and instrumentalities, to clear debris and wreckage resulting from a major disaster from publicly and privately owned lands and waters; and
(2) to make grants to any State or local government or owner or operator of a private nonprofit facility for the purpose of removing debris or wreckage resulting from a major disaster from publicly or privately owned lands and waters.
No authority under this section shall be exercised unless the affected State or local government shall first arrange an unconditional authorization for removal of such debris or wreckage from public and private property, and, in the case of removal of debris or wreckage from private property, shall first agree to indemnify the Federal Government against any claim arising from such removal.
The President shall issue rules which provide for recognition of differences existing among urban, suburban, and rural lands in implementation of this section so as to facilitate adequate removal of debris and wreckage from large lots.
The Federal share of assistance under this section shall be not less than 75 percent of the eligible cost of debris and wreckage removal carried out under this section.
(1) Grant assistance
In making a grant under subsection (a)(2), the President shall provide not less than 50 percent of the President's initial estimate of the Federal share of assistance as an initial payment in accordance with paragraph (2).
(2) Date of payment
Not later than 60 days after the date of the estimate described in paragraph (1) and not later than 90 days after the date on which the State or local government or owner or operator of a private nonprofit facility applies for assistance under this section, an initial payment described in paragraph (1) shall be paid.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 407 of Pub. L. 93–288 was renumbered section 410 by Pub. L. 100–707 and is classified to section 5177 of this title.
Amendments
2006—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 109–347 added subsec. (e).
1988—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 100–707, §106(c)(2), inserted “or owner or operator of a private nonprofit facility” after “local government”.
Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 100–707, §106(c)(3), added subsecs. (c) and (d).