Any person, company or agency planning to conduct certain activities in waters of the United States, or dump or place dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, must first obtain a permit from the Corps of Engineers. Permits, licenses, variances or similar authorization may also be required by other federal, state and local statutes.
Individual Permits are issued after following a full public interest review of an individual application for a Department of the Army permit. A public notice is distributed to interested parties and comments are solicited. After evaluating the comments and information received, the Corps makes a decision to issue or deny a permit based on compliance with its regulations and other laws, as well as a determination that the activity is not contrary to the public interest.
Letters of Permission can be issued following an abbreviated review procedure involving the review of the application for a Department of the Army permit by interested agencies. After evaluating all comments and information received, a final decision is made. If any of the agencies object, an individual permit will be required. Like individual permits, a permit is only granted if the activities are found to not be contrary to the public interest.
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District (Corps) is examining the environmental consequences associated with Freeport-McMoRan Safford Inc.’s (FMSI) application for a Department of the Army permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act for the proposed development of the mineral resources associated with the Lone Star ore body for the purpose of producing copper. The proposed development would consist of the construction of mining facilities, including an open pit mine and attendant development rock stockpiles and heap leach facilities, which will allow continued mining at the Safford Mine Facility using conventional open-pit mining, heap leaching techniques, and solution extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) processing, and utilizing as much of the existing Safford Mine Facility infrastructure and processing facilities as practicable. The construction of the proposed facilities would discharge fill materials into approximately 90.27 acres of waters of the United States.
On 15 December 2003, The Newhall Land and Farming Company applied to the USACE for a Department of the Army Standard Individual Permit (SIP), pursuant to section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA)(33 U.S.C. 1344) to permanently impact 93.3 acres, including 20.5 acres of wetlands, and temporarily impact 33.3 acres of waters of the United States for the construction and maintenance of flood control facilities, roads, utilities, infrastructure and other components associated with the proposed Newhall Ranch Resource Management and Development Plan (RMDP) near the city of Santa Clarita, northwestern Los Angeles County, California. The RMDP component of the Newhall Ranch Specific Plan would facilitate a broad range of residential, mixed-use, commercial and industrial land uses, various public facilities, and public services and utilities, together with preservation of large tracts of open space. At build-out, the proposed project would result in approximately 2,550 acres of residential uses (9,081 single-family homes on 1,559 acres, and 11,804 multi-family homes on 991 acres), 5.5 million square feet (msf) of commercial uses on 258 acres; and the development of approximately 643 acres devoted to public facilities such as community parks, neighborhood parks, golf course, community lake, new elementary, junior high and high schools, library, electrical substation, fire stations, and a 6.8 million gallon-per- day water reclamation plant (WRP).
Document(s):
Draft Alternatives Analysis
Draft Conformity Analysis
Final Conformity Analysis
Final 404(b)(1) Guidelines Evaluation
Permit
Public Notice - Draft EIS/EIR
Public Notice - Record of Decision
Provisional Permit Letter
Public Notice - Extension
Record of Decision
USEPA Elevation Recission
Piers D/E/F Middle Harbor Terminal Project
Eagle Rock Aggregates EIS/EIR
Pier S Terminal Project
Berths 212-224 YTI Container Terminal Improvement Project
San Pedro Waterfront (formerly Bridge to Breakwater)
Pier 400 Crude Oil Marine Terminal
TraPac Project
China Shipping Berths 97-109 ContainerTerminal Improvements Project
Berths 302-306 (APL) Container Terminal Project
Public Notices
WRDA Funded Permit Decisions
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District (Corps) received an application for a permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Asarco LLC, the applicant is proposing to construct, operate, and close a tailings storage facility to support continuing copper mining activities at the Ray Mine Complex in eastern Pinal County, Arizona. The facility would accommodate tailings that would be collected at the mine, transported via a tailings delivery pipeline, and deposited in slurry form at a discharge point east of Ripsey Wash, an ephemeral wash that is a tributary to the Gila River. The facility footprint is estimated at 2,574 acres and currently has an elevational range of approximately 1,800 to 2,400 feet above mean sea level. The facility is designed for an overall storage capacity of about 750 million tons of tailings and embankment materials with a final crest elevation of 2,440 feet. The proposed facility would be built with centerline and upstream construction methods. If approved as proposed by the applicant, the project would result in direct impacts to approximately 130 acres of waters of the U.S. and would indirectly impact an additional 4 acres (approximately) of waters of the U.S. from dewatering. The Corps has prepared an environmental impact statement to assess the environmental effects associated with this action.
Document(s):
Public Notice for the Ray Mine Tailings Storage Facility EIS
Notice Of Intent for the Ray Mine Tailings Storage Facility EIS
EIS Scoping Summary Report
DRAFT EIS Rosemont Copper Company, a subsidiary of Augusta Resource Corporation, proposes to produce 234 million pounds of copper, 4.5 million pounds of molybdenum, and 2.7 million ounces of silver annually over a 20-year mining period at the proposed project site. The site is located on 995 acres of privately-owned land and 3,670 acres of public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) as Coronado National Forest in the Barrel Canyon watershed, Pima County, AZ. The proposed project consists of a single 900-acre pit with an additional +3,200 acres used for a tailings facility, a waste rock dump, infrastructure, administrative buildings, etc. The Rosemont Copper Project would, through the discharge of dredged/fill material, directly impact 40 acres of waters of the U.S. (WUS) and indirectly impact 28.8 ac of WUS. The proposed project will involve the construction and operation of various mine features, associated structures, and anticipated infrastructure necessary to support these facilities. A public notice was issued by the Corps on December 6, 2012. The USFS issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement(EIS)/Draft Record of Decision (ROD) on December 13, 2013. The USFS final ROD is anticipated in May, 2014 after which time the Corps will complete its permit decision.
Document(s):
Fact Sheet
Public Notice
28 Feb Mitigation Letter
The Regulatory Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District developed Special Area Management Plans (SAMPs) for the Santa Margarita and San Jacinto Watersheds in Riverside County and Otay Watershed in San Diego County. The purpose of the SAMPs was to develop and implement watershed-wide aquatic resource management plans and implementation programs, which include preservation, enhancement, and restoration of aquatic resources, while allowing reasonable and responsible economic development and activities within the watershed-wide study area. Seven studies completed by the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) used geospatial analysis of landscape-scale data to delineate aquatic resources using a unique planning level delineation procedure, generate a baseline assessment of riparian ecosystem integrity, and develop planning tools using the baseline assessment that identified riparian restoration opportunities within the Santa Margarita, San Jacinto, and Otay Watersheds. Final reports documenting the results of these analyses are provided below.
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