Apply for Federal Consistency Review

PLEASE NOTE: All requests and necessary data and information should be emailed to sean.duffey@mass.gov. If documents are too large to be emailed, please use an FTP site (and email sean.duffey@mass.gov of their availability).

The following four categories of federal actions are subject to the federal consistency requirement:

• Federal License or Permit Activity - Activities performed by a non-federal entity that require any authorization, certification, approval, or other form of permission from a federal agency.
• Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Plans - Any plan for the exploration or development of, or production from, any area that has been leased pursuant to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, including all federal license or permit activities described in detail in such plans and affecting any coastal use or resource.
• Federal Agency Activity - Activities performed by or on behalf of a federal agency, including but not limited to development projects (i.e., the planning, construction, modification, or removal of public works, facilities, or other structures and the acquisition, utilization, or disposal of land or water resources).
• Federal Assistance to State and Local Governments - Assistance provided under a federal program through grant or contractual arrangements, loans, subsidies, guarantees, insurance, or other forms of financial aid.

CZM strongly encourages pre-application consultation for projects that are subject to federal consistency review. CZM staff can provide advance assistance on questions regarding jurisdiction, activities subject to review, contents of the consistency certification and material necessary to commence and complete review, review schedule, and project design and/or operation. Pre-application consultation helps to ensure the review procedures are well understood and that the consistency review process occurs in a timely and efficient manner.

For assistance, please call CZM’s Project Review Coordinator at (617) 890-9139 or email sean.duffey@mass.gov (please specify in the email that you have a federal consistency question)

All official CZM notices (including federal consistency review notices) are published in the Public Notices section of the Environmental Monitor, the bi-weekly publication from the MEPA office. 

Details on CZM's federal consistency review process are provided in:

• Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management Policy Guide - October 2011 - The Policy Guide is the official statement of the Massachusetts coastal program policies and legal authorities, especially as they relate to the process of federal consistency review. It provides the official program policies of the Massachusetts coastal program and includes information on the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, the history and operation of the Massachusetts coastal program, federal consistency review, and the application of coastal policy in other state regulatory programs.
  • Overview of Federal Consistency Review in Massachusetts (PDF, 147 KB) - The Federal Consistency Review Section of the Policy Guide provides an overview of how the federal consistency review process is applied in Massachusetts.
  • Massachusetts Coastal Program Policies (PDF, 1 MB) - The Massachusetts Coastal Program Policies section of the Policy Guide specifies CZM's enforceable policies. Proponents must demonstrate that projects subject to federal consistency review are consistent with these policies. (To navigate with bookmarks, download and open this file in Adobe Reader or Acrobat.)
  • Listed Federal Actions (PDF, 62 KB) - Appendix 4 of the Policy Guide provides the complete and current list of federal activities that have been determined by Massachusetts to have reasonably foreseeable effects on coastal uses or resources and may therefore be subject to federal consistency review by CZM without further approval from NOAA or other federal agency, unless otherwise provided in NOAA's Federal Consistency Regulations.
• NOAA Federal Consistency Rules (PDF, 928 KB) - These are the federal regulations promulgated by NOAA at 15 CFR 930 et seq., which govern federal consistency for approved coastal management programs.
• Coastal Zone Management Regulations - This list includes 301 CMR 20, which covers implementation and administration of the Massachusetts Coastal Program and Federal Consistency Review, as well as the other sets of state regulations promulgated by CZM.
• Massachusetts Coastal Zone Boundary - The official boundary includes the lands and waters within an area defined by the seaward limit of the state's territorial sea, extending from the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border south to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border, and landward to 100 feet inland of specified major roads, rail lines, other visible rights-of-way, or in the absence these, at specified coordinates specified.
• Environmental Permitting in Coastal Massachusetts - This guide, updated and revised in 2021, provides brief descriptions of the major Massachusetts environmental permits.