Protecting Aquatic Resources: Baltimore District Regulatory Branch works through challenges to solve complex problems, continue mission

BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES

11.10.2022

Story by Thomas Deaton 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District

“These are good projects, but if you’re impacting aquatic resources to create a beneficial project, you still have to weigh and balance the detriment versus the positive impacts,” says Amy Elliott, a project manager with the Regulatory Branch at USACE, Baltimore District. Elliott works from the State College Field Office in Pennsylvania, part of the team that oversees the review of project applications and issuance of USACE permits throughout the Pennsylvania portion of Baltimore District’s regulatory boundary that also covers all of Maryland, our nation’s capital and military installations in northern Virginia.

For the last two years, Elliott and her Baltimore District Regulatory Branch colleagues have been working toward a recently issued permit for the city of Havre De Grace, Maryland. In 2020, the city applied for a permit to construct a living shoreline along several previously industrial waterfront lots. Like any project that interacts with “Waters of the United States” or adjacent wetlands, the living shoreline required clearance from USACE to assess environmental impacts.

Due to the volume of projects faced by the Maryland regulatory staff as well as budget limitations, Elliott and other Pennsylvania regulatory project managers are stepping up to assist.

Wade Chandler, chief of Baltimore District’s Regulatory Branch and 30-year USACE employee, explains funding constraints have led to unfilled vacancies and a decrease over the past few years from a staffing level of more than 40 down to 30 personnel.

“With an increase in the fiscal 2022 budget and funding provided under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), Regulatory Branch is currently looking to fill vacancies to better meet workload and mission requirements,” Chandler says.

USACE regulatory teams work against time and interagency regulations to deliver permit decisions that are fair, balanced and protect the nation’s aquatic resources while allowing economic development.

“In conducting our permit reviews,” Chandler explains, “we ensure that our permit decisions comply with various regulations, including the Endangered Species Act, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and Clean Water Act guidelines. These reviews ensure minimization of impacts to the aquatic environment and potential need for compensatory mitigation from the project applicant to make up for those impacts.”

The 2008 compensatory mitigation rule added to the Clean Water Act was a result of interagency work between the Environmental Protection Agency and USACE. It standardized the mitigation process and charged USACE with the review and approval of relevant mitigation and ‘in-lieu of’ projects.

“The review process for approval of a mitigation bank or in-lieu fee program requires a considerable amount of time and effort by staff,” Chandler says, “with the goal of completing the process within 550 days of issuance of the public notice.”

While permit applications waned during the height of the pandemic, the team is now looking ahead to the increased workload required of the BIL funding. The budget constraints of previous years combined with the varied regulation changes that accompany new presidential administrations or court rulings mean the workforce needs to adapt frequently to new processes that may alter the time required to issue a permit.

Certain efforts are already in place or undergoing updates to better streamline regulatory efforts and improve efficiencies.

For instance, smaller, less complex projects are reviewed by State regulatory agencies through programmatic general permits without requiring USACE approval. This accounts for roughly 75 percent of applications. Agreements are also being updated with the Departments of Transportation for both Maryland and Pennsylvania to streamline Department of the Army application reviews for major transportation projects in those states.

Additionally, Chandler says USACE is weighing the options to create a “Regulators Without Borders” program.

“The concept is viewed as a model for the future workforce and will allow the national Regulatory Program to better meet mission requirements by aligning the workforce to handle regional and national fluctuations in workload.”

With new territory comes a learning curve, and Amy Elliott’s living shoreline permit process is a good example. Elliott, who was very familiar with the requirements of Pennsylvania projects after more than 20 years in the region, found herself asking new questions to tackle the project in Havre De Grace.

“Who do I talk to? What permits are needed other than from USACE? Who are the players in the game?” Elliott said. “This project had a lot of twists and turns, and I definitely learned a lot.”

When needed, she leaned on her fellow project managers in Maryland, who were often able to point her in the right direction.

“There’s a lot of knowledge at 2HP,” Elliot says, referring to the Maryland team based at the USACE, Baltimore District, Headquarters in Baltimore. “We’re all a team and all able to handle projects whether they’re in Pennsylvania, Maryland or elsewhere.”

This problem-solving approach is paramount to working through the multidisciplinary and often months- or even years-long timelines demanded by the permitting process.

Despite recent challenges, the team continues to meet established goals, including finalizing permit decisions within 7 days of issuance more than 90 percent of the time, and resolving non-compliance and enforcement actions in a timely manner.

Like the living shoreline project, Regulatory Branch continues to navigate the varied structural and budgetary constraints of the last few years to ensure that the work of a project, even if restorative in nature, doesn’t damage or take away more than it will return — the core of the USACE Regulatory mission.

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The mission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program is to protect the Nation's aquatic resources while allowing reasonable development through fair, flexible and balanced permit decisions. USACE has been regulating activities in the nation's waters since 1890. The program was initially created solely to prevent obstructions to navigation. The passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 greatly broadened this role by giving USACE authority over dredging and filling in the "Waters of the United States," including many wetlands.

• Date Taken: 11.10.2022
• Date Posted: 11.30.2022 13:46
• Story ID: 434226
• Location: BALTIMORE, MD, US