SACRAMENTO DISTRICT

The Department of the Army's Regulatory Program is one of the oldest in the federal government. Initially, it served a simple purpose: to protect and maintain the navigable capacity of the nation's waters. Changing public needs, evolving policy, court decisions and new statutory mandates have changed several aspects of the program including its breadth, complexity and authority.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through the Regulatory Program, administers and enforces Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (RHA) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Under RHA Section 10, a permit is required for work or structures in, over or under navigable waters of the United States. Under CWA Section 404, a permit is required for the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States. Many waterbodies and wetlands in the nation are waters of the United States and are subject to the Corps' regulatory authority.

The Regulatory Program is committed to protecting the Nation's aquatic resources and navigation capacity, while allowing reasonable development through fair and balanced permit decisions. The Corps evaluates permit applications for essentially all construction activities that occur in the Nation's waters, including wetlands

• 2 November 2015 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a report examining the implementation of the 2008 regulations governing compensatory mitigation offsetting losses of jurisdictional waters and wetlands authorized by Department of the Army permits. This retrospective focuses on the administrative aspects of executing the 2008 Mitigation Rule, and it examines five years of summary data on permitted impacts, compensatory mitigation requirements, and approvals of mitigation banks and in-lieu fee programs. For more information click here.
• Clean Water Rule: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published the final rule for "Definition of waters of the United States" (Clean Water Rule) on June 29, 2015. The final rule can be found at www.usace.army.mil/Portals/2/docs/civilworks/regulatory/news/FRN_CleanWaterRule.pdf.
• Regional Compensatory Mitigation and Monitoring Guidelines: The Corps' South Pacific Division published in January 2015 Regional Compensatory Mitigation and Monitoring Guidelines to be followed by the San Francisco, Sacramento, and Los Angeles Districts regarding procedures. The Guidelines are for compensatory mitigation required for processing of Department of the Army (DA) permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, and Section 103 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act. More info here. 
• Updated Map and Drawing Standards have been added to SPD's public notices and references page: http://www.spd.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNoticesandReferences.aspx.