Nationwide Permit 32 authorizes any structure, work, or discharge of dredged or fill material remaining in place or undertaken for mitigation, restoration, or environmental benefit in compliance with specific enforcement actions. These actions include final written Corps non-judicial settlement agreements or EPA 309(a) orders on consent that resolve violations of the Clean Water Act or the Rivers and Harbors Act. Additionally, it covers activities authorized by judicial consent decrees or settlements resulting from enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice. The permit is designed to streamline the legal resolution of unauthorized activities by providing the formal Department of the Army authorization needed for settled structures or remedial work to exist legally in jurisdictional waters. The scope is limited to activities that do not result in the loss of more than 5 acres of non-tidal waters or 1 acre of tidal waters. Furthermore, for settlement agreements involving the restoration of a stream, the work is limited to the restoration of no more than 500 linear feet of that stream.
The 2026 reissuance of NWP 32 contains no substantive changes to the permit's national terms, acreage limits, or conditions compared to the 2021 version. The Corps reevaluated the permit's performance and determined that the existing qualitative and quantitative limits remain appropriate to ensure 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 the most recent environmental baseline information. This includes data from the 2022 National Lakes Assessment and the 2021 National Wetland Condition Assessment, ensuring the environmental review reflects the current ecological status of jurisdictional waters across the United States.
Legal counsel, environmental compliance managers, and property owners involved in resolving unauthorized impacts to waters of the U.S. use this permit. It is required to finalize settlements where a violating structure is permitted to remain in place or where remedial restoration work must be performed.
The Corps determined that the reissuance of NWP 32 has 'no effect' on federally-listed endangered or threatened species or their critical habitat. This finding is supported by General Condition 18, which ensures no activity is authorized until project-specific ESA Section 7 consultation is completed if an activity 'might affect' listed resources. Compliance with Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) requirements is similarly managed through case-by-case or programmatic consultations. Compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act is ensured through General Condition 20. Although NWP 32 does not have a permit-specific Pre-Construction Notification (PCN) requirement, the General Condition mandates a PCN if a project has the potential to affect historic properties. This ensures the district engineer can satisfy all NHPA requirements before any work or remaining structure is finalized under the permit.
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