CONCORD, Mass. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District has issued the statewide Connecticut General Permits for minimal impact projects. The Connecticut General Permits replace the prior statewide Connecticut General Permit, which expired on July 15, 2016, with a series of multiple General Permits (GPs) covering activity-specific categories.

These GPs became effective on Aug. 19, 2016 and will continue the expedited review process for activities subject to Corps jurisdiction under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, and Section 103 of the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, located in waters of the U.S., including navigable waters, within boundaries of the state of Connecticut and lands located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation. 

General Permits are used as a way to streamline state and Federal regulatory programs. The New England District has already had success with streamlining these programs with the use of GPs throughout New England. These GPs are designed to authorize activities covered under the Nationwide Permit (NWP) program and the prior Connecticut GP.

Some of the major changes from the previous GP include: 1) the new CT GPs are organized into 21 activity-specific General Permits. This was intended to satisfy the requirements of Section 404(e) of the Clean Water Act, which allows the Corps to issue general permits for activities that are similar in nature and will cause only minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental effects. Identifying specific activities allows the Corps to adequately assess cumulative impacts of permitted activities, as well as fully assess impacts on threatened and endangered species; 2) updated general conditions according to current state and Federal law and policies; 3) the new CT GPs category names have changed from Category 1 to Self-verification (SV) and from Category 2 to Pre-Construction Notification (PCN) to be consistent with the NWP program; and 4) updated the self-verification form to better reflect General Permit category and impacts.

The 2016 Connecticut GPs supersede the previous CT GP which expired on July 15, 2016. Activities authorized by the previous GP but had not commenced or were not under contract to commence by July 15, 2016 will need to apply for a new authorization under the new Connecticut GPs. Conversely, activities authorized by the previous CT GP that have either commenced or are under contract to commence will have an additional year from the expiration date of July 15, 2016 to complete the work.

To view the public notice visit the Corps website at http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/ and select “regulatory/permitting” and then “public notices” or go directly to

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx.

A direct link to the Connecticut GPs on the Corps website is:

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/State-General-Permits/Connecticut-General-Permit/.

For more information or to obtain a copy of the Connecticut GPs contact the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Regulatory Division (ATTN: Diane Ray), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751; or call Permit Project Manager Diane Ray at 978-318-8831, or toll free at 800-362-4367 (if calling from within Massachusetts), or 800-343-4789 (if calling from outside of Massachusetts) or by email to diane.m.ray@usace.army.mil.