Please Protect Clean Water in Georgia

Dear Colonel Kertis,

The Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District's Proposed Regional General Permits 105, 106, 107, and 108 are fatally flawed in several respects: they would violate the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and Corps policy. Thus, I request that the Savannah District curtail this action and stay within the bounds of the federal law.

General permits are reserved for activities that are "similar in nature, [that] will cause only minimal adverse environmental effect when performed separately, and will have only minimal cumulative adverse effect on the environment." They must also be "related," "have minimal impacts," and not be "duplicative" of existing general or regional permits. The four proposed regional general permits fail all three of these criteria.

The proposed permits consider allowing up to 10 acres of wetlands and 2,000 linear feet of streams to be filled in as "minimal impact", which is alarming. The Corps' own policy states quite clearly that nationwide permits would have acreage limits no greater than one half acre of waters of the United States and 300 linear feet of stream to meet the "minimal impact" criterion. For the Savannah District to unilaterally increase these thresholds is in clear violation of the "minimal impact" criterion set forth in the Clean Water Act.

The Duplicative Criterion is not met because the proposed permits are duplicative of existing nationwide permits. Nationwide permits are crafted with extensive public input at a national level. Regional general permits receive far less public scrutiny. Thus, it is not surprising that the Corps does not allow regional general permits to trump nationwide permits. With these permits, a permittee seeking authorization to fill wetlands in Georgia would be allowed higher limits than a permittee in another. It is precisely for this reason that such duplication is not permissible.

The "Similar in Nature" Criterion is also not met. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to determine the full range of facilities that proposed permits would cover. Thus, the catch-all regional general permit can not be said to be limited to activities that are "similar in nature."

Also, the proposed regional general permits violate the National Environmental Policy Act. Like the nationwide permits, regional general permits cannot be issued without an environmental assessment. At this time there is no evidence that an adequate environmental assessment has been prepared for these proposed regional general permits.

Additionally, the limits in the proposed permits are arbitrary, capricious and are an abuse of discretion. The real test for establishing limits is set forth in the Clean Water Act. As yet further evidence of the arbitrariness of the proposed regional general permits, of the twenty plus Corps districts, the Savannah District is the only one that has seen fit to propose such permits.

And finally, these permits disregard one of the fundamental policy initiatives of the Obama Administration: to Protect the Environment as we Grow the Economy.

By changing these regulations, the Army Corps of Engineers is circumventing existing processes put in place to protect rivers, streams, and wetlands. For these reasons I ask that the Savannah District withdraw the proposed regional general permits immediately.

Sincerely,

Your name and address here