21 April 2020 - EPA and Army Publish the Navigable Waters Protection Rule The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” was published in the Federal Register. This final rule establishes the scope of federal regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act. The Navigable Waters Protection Rule includes four simple categories of jurisdictional waters and provides specific exclusions for many water features that traditionally have not been regulated. The final rule will become effective on June 22, 2020. The published version is 93 pages, and the citation is: 85 FR 22250.  The Federal Register notice is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/04/21/2020-02500/the-navigable-waters-protection-rule-definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states. Additional information about the rule can be found on the EPA website at https://www.epa.gov/nwpr.

Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) precautions, effective immediately, the St. Louis District Regulatory Branch is requesting all incoming correspondence be submitted electronically.  Please see the public notice page for more details and the link to download the Section 404 permit applications from our website.   

On January 6, 2017, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) published the notice in the Federal Register announcing the reissuance of all existing nationwide permits (NWPs), general conditions, and definitions with some modifications. The NWPs became effective on March 19, 2017, and will expire on March 18, 2022.

Certain NWPs require project proponents to notify Corps district engineers of their proposed activities prior to conducting the activities authorized by those NWPs, so that the district engineers can make case-specific determinations of NWP eligibility. The notification takes the form of a pre-construction notification (PCN). The purpose of a PCN is to give the district engineer an opportunity to review a proposed NWP activity to ensure that the proposed activity qualifies for NWP authorization.  In most cases, the district engineer has 45 days after receipt of a complete PCN to determine whether the proposed activity qualifies for NWP authorization or requires another form of Corps authorization.  More information on when an activity requires a PCN can be found in the Federal Register Notice:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-01-06/pdf/2016-31355.pdf

Potential users of the NWPs should also check the District’s website with the regional conditions for the NWPs, to determine if a PCN is required for a proposed activity.  Those regional conditions are available at:

State of Missouri

https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Portals/54/docs/regulatory/permits/2017NWP_MORegCon.pdf

State of Illinois

https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Portals/54/docs/regulatory/permits/2017%20NWPILRegCon.pdf?ver=2017-03-23-160653-400

To assist applicants in providing complete information needed for NWP PCNs, this PCN application form was created and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in February 2019.  The use of this form is strongly encouraged to assist Corps districts with a streamlined evaluation of an applicant’s proposal.  Submitting a completed PCN form is expected to reduce requests for additional information requests and should reduce the amount of time it takes the district engineer to conclude his or her review. 

Instructions on how to complete the PCN application form and the PCN form can be found at:

https://www.publications.usace.army.mil/Portals/76/Eng_Form_6082_2019Jun.pdf?ver=2019-10-09-111141-217

As floodwaters recede in the St. Louis District, we are aware of damages that have resulted from high water and increased flow velocities. Many of the damages are on high ground and may not require authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (Section 10) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (Section 404) permit requirements and general conditions apply to repairs that occur in Waters of the U.S., which includes navigable rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, and/or wetland areas. Below is a document to assist you in determining the permitting requirements for our district.

Flood Repairs

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as part of an interagency effort with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service, announces the draft biennial update to the National Wetland Plant List (NWPL) for 2018 in the Federal Register.  The Corps encourages public input in the form of data, comments, literature references, or field experiences, to help clarify the status of the species reviewed for this update, as well as public input on the NWPL process.  The public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed update or addition of wetland indicator status ratings for 20 plant species in select Corps wetland regions.  These 20 reviewed species and their draft 2018 wetland ratings by region, as well as the FR notice, can be viewed at the NWPL homepage, http://wetland-plants.usace.army.mil/ under “2018 NWPL Update Information.” A link to provide general or species-specific comments is also available at this location. Users are encouraged to submit literature citations, herbaria records, experiential references, monitoring data, and other relevant information. Specific knowledge of, or studies related to, individual species are particularly helpful. Commenters should use their regional botanical and ecological expertise, field observations, reviews of the most recent indicator status information, appropriate botanical literature, floras, herbarium specimens with notation of habitat and associated species, habit data, relevant studies, and historic list information. Guessing ratings is inappropriate. All submitted comments and information will be compiled and sent to the National Panel for their consideration.

The Corps is also seeking comments on the NWPL update process. Detailed information on the update process, protocol, and technical issues can be found in the following documents (available on the NWPL Publications web page referenced above):

1) Lichvar, Robert W. and Minkin, Paul. Concepts and Procedures for Updating the National Wetland Plant List. Sept 2008. ERDC/CRREL TN-08-3

2) Lichvar, Robert W. and Gillrich, Jennifer J. Final Protocol for Assigning Wetland Indicator Status Ratings during National Wetland Plant List Update. Sept 2011. ERDC/CRREL TN-11-1

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army announced today the publishing in the Federal Register of the proposed new definition of "waters of the United States" that clarifies federal authority under the Clean Water Act.  The notice is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/02/14/2019-00791/revised-definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states. The agencies' proposal is the second step in a two-step process to review and revise the definition of "waters of the United States" consistent with the February 2017 Presidential Executive Order entitled "Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the 'Waters of the United States' Rule." The publishing of the proposal and outreach efforts were delayed due to the lapse in appropriations for EPA. Today's notice begins a 60-day public comment period that will close on April 15, 2019. EPA and the Army will hold an informational webcast on February 14, 2019, and will host a listening session on the proposed rule in Kansas City, KS, on February 27-28, 2019. Information, including supporting analyses and fact sheets, are available at: https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule/step-two-revise and https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule

Implementation of this rule is temporarily stayed; until further notice all determinations and permitting actions will be based on guidance in place prior to 28 August 2015.

http://www.usace.army.mil/Portals/2/docs/civilworks/regulatory/news/FRN_CleanWaterRule.pdf

11 December 2018 - EPA and Army Propose New "Waters of the United States" Definition The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army have proposed a new definition of "waters of the United States" that clarifies federal authority under the Clean Water Act.  The agencies' proposal is the second step in a two-step process to review and revise the definition of "waters of the United States" consistent with the February 2017 Presidential Executive Order entitled "Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the 'Waters of the United States' Rule."  The agencies will take comment on the proposal for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. EPA and the Army will also hold an informational webcast on January 10, 2019, and will host a listening session on the proposed rule in Kansas City, KS, on January 23, 2019.  More information including a pre-publication version of the Federal Register notice, the supporting analyses and fact sheets are available at: https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule/step-two-revise and https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule.

EPA and Army Postpone Public Hearing on Proposed New "Waters of the United States" Definition.  Due to the lapse in appropriations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EPA and the Department of the Army (Army) have postponed the planned January 23 public hearing on the proposed new "Waters of the United States" definition until after appropriations have passed to fund the EPA.  Publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register is also postponed.  Information on the status of the public hearing will be posted on the EPA website at

https://www.epa.gov/wotus-rule/epa-and-army-postpone-public-hearing-proposed-new-waters-united-states-definition.

31 October 2016 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today the issuance of a new Regulatory Guidance Letter (RGL) 16-01 regarding "Jurisdictional Determinations." The RGL explains the differences between approved and preliminary jurisdictional determinations (JDs) and provides guidance to the field and the regulated public on when it may be appropriate to issue an AJD as opposed to a PJD, or when it may be appropriate to not prepare any JD whatsoever. The Corps reaffirms its commitment to continue its practice of providing JDs when requested to do so, consistent with the guidance in the RGL. The RGL is available here and a set of Questions and Answers and other supporting information can be found here.

Both the Individual Permit application form  (ENG Form 4345) and the Regulatory Customer Service Survey form have expired. The use of these expired forms will have no effect on ths permit process. Once the forms have been updated, changes will be posted on our website.

The 2014 NWPL has been published on the NWPL website and the updated list contains 8057 plant species, an increase of 120 species, based on new literature. The majority of these new species received FACU ratings. The bulk of the 2014 update is the additional ratings for 754 species that were noted to occur in other areas of the 10 Corps Regional Supplement regions, based on the literature and herbarium records. All of these species were already included on the NWPL and only the new occurrences were rated. The 2014 update includes no nomenclature or taxonomic changes. Overall, these revisions represent a less than one percent change in species and ratings from the 2013 NWPL. Many of those plants that were updated are uncommon.  A summary of all the changes can be found on the NWPL website under the “What’s New?” section.