In a May 15, 2015 memorandum published just prior to the U.S. EPA’s issuance of regulations clarifying the scope of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), the Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) claims that the economic and technical analysis provided by the Corps to the U.S. EPA regarding Section 404 permitting spanning fiscal years 2009 to 2014 was misapplied by the EPA in crafting the CWA rule which was jointly published on June 2015. The memo claims that the Corps provided the EPA with raw dredge-and-fill permitting data and that the Corps had no role in selecting or analyzing the data that… Read more
Tag: Corps of Engineers
Nationwide Permits for Dredge and Fill Activity Challenged
In February, the Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) issued revised versions of its 48 nationwide permits (“NWPs”), authorizing certain categories of dredge and fill activities in wetlands and water bodies under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. On the same day, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) issued a Biological Opinion (“BiOP”) finding that the Corps’ NWPs do not adequately protect threatened or endangered species, and describing a series of reasonable and prudent alternatives (“RPAs”) to limit harms. Because FWS consultation is required under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), the BiOP resulted in the legality of activities authorized by… Read more