The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has launched a new module on its Regulatory Request System (RRS) that will allow users to self-verify that a pre-construction notification is not required for a proposed activity covered under a nationwide permit.
Certain activities are authorized by nationwide permits if the project proponent’s proposed activities comply with all the terms and conditions of those nationwide permits and the activity can commence without notification to USACE district offices. This new module allows the public to answer a series of questions to determine if their proposed activity is already authorized without a pre-construction notification requirement.
Questions are provided in stepwise sequential order, and if the information provided through the RRS identifies that the proposed activity qualifies for an existing nationwide permit without a requirement to submit a pre-construction notification, users will be immediately provided with correspondence.
If the information provided indicates that a pre-construction notification or other permit application may be required, the user is provided with the option to apply for a permit or pre-application meeting through the appropriate RRS application module.
Due to local USACE district nationwide permit regional conditions, this module does not apply to Michigan, New York, New Mexico, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands, and Hawaii. For those areas, an applicant will need to submit a pre-construction notification for their project by using the application for a Department of the Army Permit module. Questions about the new module, or RRS in general, should be sent to the appropriate USACE district office.
In addition to this new module, RRS allows the public to submit online individual and general permit applications, and jurisdictional determination requests.
Key benefits of the RRS system include:
• Ensuring required fields are completed through automated data validation, leading to more complete and accurate submissions.
• Improving communication through automated emails and a real-time dashboard update thus reducing unnecessary back-and-forth between regulators and applicants.
• Enabling online access to all relevant regulatory information.
• Reducing internal data entry requirements allowing project managers to focus on permit review.