The USACE issues NWPs to authorize certain activities that require Department of the Army permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and/or Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The NWPs authorize activities that have minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental effects (Federal Register). The largest proportion of permits processed, as derived from the ORM2 dataset is NWPs.
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Proportion of Permits by Type (NWP = Nationwide Permit; RGP = Regional General Permit; PGP = Programmatic General Permit; SP = Standard Permit; LOP – Letter of Permission).
General Permits (GPs) are a form of Department of Army authorization issued on a nationwide or regional basis for a category or categories of activities where:
- Those activities are substantially similar in nature and cause only minimal individual and cumulative environmental impacts; or
- the RGP/PGP would result in avoiding unnecessary duplication of the regulatory control exercised by another ederal, state, or local agency provided it has been determined that the environmental consequences of the action are individually and cumulatively minimal.
Nationwide permits (NWPs) are issued on a nationwide basis to streamline the authorization of activities that result in minimal individual and cumulative adverse effects on the aquatic environment.
Regional General Permit (RGP) – A type of PGP that is issued by the Corps with certain conditions that pertain to a limited geographic area; it can be used to modify or in place of NWPs (the role of various states).
Programmatic General Permits (PGPs) are founded on an existing state, local or other federal program designed to avoid duplication of that program.
A Standard Permit (SP) is one which has been processed through the public interest review procedures, including public notice and receipt of comments. Review through the SP process is only done for activities that do not qualify for authorization under a Regional General Permit, Programmatic General Permit, Nationwide Permit, or Letter of Permission.
A Letter of Permission (LOP) is a type of individual permit issued through an abbreviated processing procedure which includes coordination with federal and state fish and wildlife agencies, and a public interest evaluation, but without the publishing of an individual public notice.
The average number of days to obtain a Nationwide Permit (NWP) by permit type is shown above. Timing for acquiring a nationwide permit is somewhat variable with permit type. The current average number of days to acquire a Nationwide 27 permit is 60 days.
A review of Nationwide Permits (NWPs) was undertaken to evaluate the average time required to obtain a USACE Nationwide Permit. This evaluation was performed using the ORM Dataset as provided under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from USACE. The primary goal of NWPs is to authorize,with limited delay and paperwork, certain activities that have minimal adverse effects on the environment (USACE Nationwide Permit Reissuance FAQ). These NWPs, according to USACE data, represent 52% of all permits issued by the regulatory authority.
A primary goal of the 2008 Rule was an “increase in the efficiency and predictability of the process of proposing compensatory mitigation and approving new mitigation banks”. The data suggest that the opposite had occurred until 2012. It was taking longer to get a NWP, and taking significantly longer to get a NWP when mitigation was required (Figure 20) as opposed to when no mitigation is required. While a number of factors may have been involved in these increases, such as incomplete datasets and/or changes in agency budgets, indicators suggest those trends may be reversing somewhat.
Average number of days to acquire a NationwidePermit by Nationwide Permit type.
A review of the average time to permit by individual USACE District last year revealed that 65% of Districts are processing permits where mitigation is required more slowly than where no mitigation is required, while 35% of Districts show the reverse. Currently, only 23% of Districts (7 out of 30 Districts) are processing permits faster where mitigation is required. There is also considerable variability by District in terms of permit processing time. The Rule states that the Nationwide permit completion timeline is within 45 days of submittal. At the extreme ends of the range, the time to permit in the Los Angeles district is a full calendar year longer than in the St. Paul District.
Graph showing the average number of days to permit for different mitigation types (ILF = In-lieu Fee; MB = Mitigation bank; PRM OFF =Offsite Permittee-Responsible Mitigation; PRM ON = Onsite Permittee-Responsible Mitigation) and by permit types (LOP = Letter of Permission; NWP = Nationwide Permit; PGP = Programmatic General Permit; RGP = Regional General Permit; SP = Standard Permit).
The fiscal years 2011 through 2015 of the ORM Mitigation dataset were aggregated and analyzed to determine the average number of days to obtain a permit for different methods of mitigation and separated by permit type. Both on-site and off-site mitigation permit timing are much longer for all permit types than for mitigation banking.
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