Nationwide Permit 10 authorizes the placement of non-commercial mooring buoys in navigable waters of the United States. This permit is intended to provide a streamlined process for individuals or organizations to install single buoys for vessel securement, ensuring that such structures do not interfere with general navigation or aquatic safety. The scope of this permit is restricted to non-commercial use, meaning it does not cover buoys installed for profit-driven maritime operations or large-scale fleeting. It operates solely under the authority of Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and does not authorize any discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States.
The 2026 reissuance of NWP 10 includes no substantive changes to the permit's terms and conditions from the 2021 version. The Corps reevaluated the permit's individual and cumulative effects and determined that the existing qualitative and quantitative limits remain sufficient to ensure that authorized activities result in no more than minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental effects. While the regulatory text remains unchanged, the supporting decision document has been updated with current environmental baseline information. This includes data from newer national assessments, such as the 2022 National Lakes Assessment and the 2021 National Wetland Condition Assessment, to ensure the environmental review is based on the most recent available scientific data.
Private boat owners, non-profit boating clubs, and local government agencies typically use this permit to install secure mooring points in navigable waters. It is specifically for non-commercial entities that need to anchor single vessels without building permanent dock structures.
The Corps determined that the reissuance of NWP 10 has 'no effect' on federally-listed endangered or threatened species or their critical habitat. This is because General Condition 18 requires project-specific Section 7 consultation for any activity that 'might affect' these resources, and no activity is authorized until the consultation process is complete. Compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act is ensured through General Condition 20, which requires a pre-construction notification if an activity has the potential to affect historic properties. For Essential Fish Habitat (EFH), the Corps found that district engineers can add regional or activity-specific conditions to ensure authorized mooring structures do not cause more than minimal adverse effects.
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