Overview of Recent Nationwide Permit Program Changes
On March 28, 2017, former President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13783, “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth.” The Executive Order directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) to immediately review existing regulations that “potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources” such as Nationwide Permits (“NWP”). NWPs are general permits issued for categories of activities that have minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental effects on the environment. The issuance and reissuance of NWPs normally occurs every five years. Most of the current NWPs are set to expire on March 18, 2022. However, in September of 2020, the Corps proposed to revise and reissue 12 NWPs, and create four new NWPs. The final rule, published on January 13, 2021, created and revised the 16 NWPs through the following actions: