In this time of renewed energy for
restarting development projects that may have been halted or delayed during the
economic slowdown, it has become increasingly important to know where your
project stands in relation to previously obtained environmental permits.
Regulators also have seen a decrease in workload with the drop in incoming
applications and many have used this time to review and modify existing
guidelines and procedures. In addition, several federal permit
regulations have recently been renewed or are up for renewal in the near
future. In recent years the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has
issued several regional manuals for wetland delineations, modifying the
procedures and sometimes the results of delineations. There is also
evidence of increased pressure from regulatory review agencies such as the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to require applicants to complete threatened or
endangered species and habitat surveys that may not have been required in the
past.
All of these recent changes could
have an impact on the renewal process of previously issued wetlands delineation
confirmations and Corps or Department of Environmental Quality issued permits.
The best way to avoid many of these costly complications is to request a permit
or confirmation extension prior to the expiration of the old one. The
regulatory agencies typically require notice one month before the expiration of
the existing approval and the approval can generally be issued with minimal
rereview of the project.
Requesting the reapproval of a
permit or delineation after the expiration date can result in a more in-depth
review of the project. In the case of a delineation confirmation, this
can mean additional work to convert the site data to meet the current
procedures and a second field review that could result in modifications to the
wetland boundary. In the case of a permit reapproval, this can mean a
secondary review by outside agencies resulting in requests for costly site
surveys and additional work to revise the application to meet current
guidelines, not to mention additional permit fees.
