Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000, as amended (33 U.S.C. 2352) and Title 23 of the U.S. Code, Section 139(j) provide the authority to accept and expend funds from certain entities to expedite the review of permit applications."
Section 214 of WRDA 2000 reads as follows:
- IN GENERAL. - In Fiscal Years 2001 through 2003, the Secretary (of the Army), after public notice, may accept and expend funds contributed by non-federal public entities to expedite the evaluation of permits under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army.
- EFFECT ON PERMITTING - In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall ensure that the use of funds accepted under subsection (a) will not impact impartial decision making with respect to permits, either substantively or procedurally.
The House of Representatives Bill (H.R. 6184) Public Law 111-315 extended the expiration of WRDA 2000 Section 214 to December 31, 2016.
The Secretary of the Army has delegated this responsibility to the Chief of Engineers and his authorized representatives, including the Commander of the San Francisco District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Non-federal public entities are comprised of state and local governmental agencies and Indian tribal governments. They include, but are not limited to, local transportation agencies, port authorities, flood and storm water management agencies, and governmental economic development agencies.
The Corps’ Regulatory Program is funded as a congressionally appropriated line item in the annual Federal budget. Additional funds received by the San Francisco District from a non-Federal public entity are used to augment the San Francisco District Regulatory budget, in accordance with the provisions of WRDA 2000 and EWDA 2004. Funds are used primarily to hire additional staff to expedite the evaluation of permit applications designated by the non-Federal public entity.
To ensure funds received from a from a non-Federal public entity will not impact impartial decision-making, the following procedures have been established:
- All final permit decisions for cases where these funds are used must be reviewed at least by one level above the decision maker, unless the decision maker is the District Commander.
- All final permit decisions for cases where these funds are used will be made available on the San Francisco District web page.
- The Corps will not eliminate any procedures or decisions that would otherwise be required for that type of project and permit application under consideration.
- The Corps will comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
- Funds will only be expended to provide priority review of the participating non-federal entity’s permit application.
The San Francisco District point of contact for WRDA agreements is James Mazza, Acting Chief of the Regulatory Division.
A list of active WRDA agreements are compiled on the USACE-Regulatory-HQ Page for WRDA 214.
A list of projects authorized under these WRDA agreements can be found on the Permit Decision Page. To see projects specific to the San Francisco District, you will need to choose the “SPN-San Francisco District” option in the Filter by District dropdown menu.