4/19/24: NEW UPDATE for the State of California Salton Sea Management Program 10-Year Plan: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) announces the availability of a draft Programmatic Agreement for the State of California’s Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) Phase 1: 10-Year Plan for a 30-day review. The Corps considers the interests of the public to be important to its decision-making processes and will accept comments on the Programmatic Agreement via email through May 20, 2024.
The Corps Los Angeles District Regulatory Division, in collaboration with five federal cooperating agencies, the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the State of California’s SSMP team, has drafted a Programmatic Agreement pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The Programmatic Agreement outlines the Section 106 review process for SSMP 10-year Plan projects to avoid, minimize, and mitigate any effects to historic properties, including cultural and archeological resources, within the planning area covered by the Corps forthcoming final Environmental Assessment. Reflecting months of ongoing consultation with multiple Consulting Parties, including Federally recognized Tribes, the Programmatic Agreement proposes to streamline the Section 106 review process as follows: by identifying specific categories of activities that have little or no potential to affect historic properties and that following a review by a professional cultural resource specialist can be exempted from further review; by identifying categories of cultural resources which the Corps and SHPO have already agreed are ineligible for the National Register of Historic Places; and by reducing consultations with the SHPO on planned projects where the APE has previously been surveyed and the planned project would culminate in a “No Historic Properties Affected” or “No Adverse Effect” determination when applying standard avoidance measures.
Traducción Española
NUEVA ACTUALIZACIÓN para el Plan Decenal del Programa de Gestión del Mar Salton del Estado de California: El Cuerpo de Ingenieros (Cuerpo) del Ejército de EE. UU. anuncia la disponibilidad de un borrador de Acuerdo Programático para la Fase 1 del Programa de Gestión del Mar de Salton (SSMP, por sus siglas en Inglés) del Estado de California: Plan Decenal para una revisión de 30 días. El Cuerpo considera que los intereses del público son importantes para sus procesos de toma de decisiones y aceptará comentarios sobre el Acuerdo Programático por correo electrónico hasta el 20 de mayo de 2024.
La División Reguladora del Cuerpo del Distrito de Los Ángeles, en colaboración con cinco agencias federales cooperantes, el Oficial Estatal de Preservación Histórica (SHPO, por sus siglas en Inglés), el Consejo Asesor federal sobre Preservación Histórica y el equipo SSMP del Estado de California, ha redactado un Acuerdo Programático de conformidad con la Sección 106 de la Ley de Preservación Histórica Nacional de 1966. El Acuerdo Programático describe el proceso de revisión de la Sección 106 para los proyectos del Plan Decenal del SSMP para evitar, minimizar y mitigar cualquier efecto en las propiedades históricas, incluidos los recursos culturales y arqueológicos, dentro del área de planificación cubierta por la próxima Evaluación Ambiental final del Cuerpo. Como reflejo de meses de consultas continuas con múltiples Partes Consultoras, incluidas tribus reconocidas a nivel federal, el Acuerdo Programático propone simplificar el proceso de revisión de la Sección 106 de la siguiente manera: identificando categorías específicas de actividades que tienen poco o ningún potencial para afectar propiedades históricas y que después de una revisión por parte de un especialista profesional en recursos culturales pueden quedar exentas de una revisión adicional; identificando categorías de recursos culturales que el Cuerpo y la SHPO ya han acordado que no son elegibles para el Registro Nacional de Lugares Históricos; y reduciendo las consultas con la SHPO sobre proyectos planificados en los que el APE ha sido inspeccionado previamente y el proyecto planificado culminaría en una determinación de “No hay propiedades históricas afectadas” o “Sin efectos adversos” al aplicar medidas de evasión estándar.2/13/24: 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, is announcing the availability of the final 2022 National Wetland Plant List (NWPL). The Federal Register Notice for the 2022 NWPL update can be found here: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-02-13/pdf/2024-02903.pdf. The NWPL provides plant species wetland indicator status ratings, which are used in determining whether the hydrophytic vegetation factor is met when conducting wetland delineations under the Clean Water Act and wetland determinations under the Wetland Conservation Provisions of the Food Security Act. Other applications of the NWPL include wetland restoration, establishment, and enhancement projects. The list is effective as of 13 February 2024 and will be used in any wetland delineations performed after this date.
1/31/24: USACE announces the launch of its new Regulatory Request System (RRS). RRS is designed to make the review of permit requests a transparent and efficient process for the public. RRS, currently in a beta version, provides general information on the Regulatory Program and allows the public to submit pre-application meeting requests and jurisdictional determination requests. Additional capability is scheduled in Spring 2024. This added capability will allow users the ability to electronically submit individual and general permit applications and other necessary information, saving time and reducing the need for paper-based submissions. RRS will streamline the permit application process and underscores USACE commitment to modernizing our application process, meeting user expectations, and providing a transparent, straightforward process for the timely review of permit requests. Stay tuned for further updates on the full release of the RRS. Please click on the following link to access RRS: rrs.usace.army.mil. For additional information on or to provide feedback on RRS, please contact rrs@usace.army.mil.
9/8/23: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of the Army (the agencies) issued a final rule to amend the final “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’” rule, published in the Federal Register on January 18, 2023. This final rule conforms the definition of “waters of the United States” to the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 25, 2023, decision in the case of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. Parts of the January 2023 Rule are invalid under the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Clean Water Act in the Sackett decision. Therefore, the agencies have amended key aspects of the regulatory text to conform it to the Court’s decision. The conforming rule, "Revised Definition of 'Waters of the United States'; Conforming," was published in the Federal Register and became effective September 8, 2023.
4/21/23: On April 20, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit temporarily issued a stay of enforcement of the 2023 Rule until May 10, 2023 in Commonwealth of Kentucky v. EPA (No. 23-5343) and Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, et al. v. EPA (No. 23-5345). In light of this stay, the agencies interpret "waters of the United States" consistent with the pre-2015 regulatory regime inside the Commonwealth of Kentucky and for the Commonwealth and Plaintiff-Appellants in Case No. 23-5345 and their members until May 10, 2023.
3/20/23: On March 19, 2023, a district court judge for the Southern District of Texas issued an order preliminarily enjoining in Idaho and Texas the 2023 Rule issued by EPA and the Department of the Army defining “waters of the United States.” On April 12, 2023, a district court judge in North Dakota issued an order preliminarily enjoining in 24 States the 2023 rule issued by EPA and the Department of the Army defining “waters of the United States.” These States include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The agencies are reviewing the decisions and their options.