Under President Trump’s leadership and consistent with the Unleashing American Energy Executive Order, the Army and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have updated the Corps’ implementing procedures for the National Environmental Policy Act. These reforms align with the changes Congress made to NEPA in the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act, and with the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County. These reforms will apply to the procedures the Corps follows when reviewing permit applications under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act and to the procedures the Corps follows for Water Resources Development Act projects. The Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Lee Forsgren, stated that these much-needed changes will “reform, modernize, and expedite the Corps of Engineers’ environmental reviews, eliminating unnecessary delays, and will help ensure the growth of secure and reliable infrastructure projects across the nation.” The Army is adding a new part to the Code of Federal Regulations covering the Corps’ permitting programs, and the Corps will follow the Department of Defense’s implementing procedures for water resource development projects. The Army closely coordinated with the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of Defense to achieve this interagency effort to reform federal permitting processes.

The new implementation procedures will be posted below once available:

Permitting Programs

Water Resource Development Projects