The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned a lower court ruling and cleared the way for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) to continue its litigation against a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to modify the Nationwide Permit Program (NWP).
A lower court had previously denied ARTBA’s attempt to stop the agency’s NWP modifications that reduce 10 acres to one-half acre the amount of land on which a party may discharge dredged or filled material into wetlands without obtaining an individual permit. As a result, the Corps was able to make changes to its general NWP requirements without going through any type of public review process.
The Court of Appeals decision means ARTBA and its industry allies can move forward in challenging overreaching by the Corps on broad decisions affecting the permitting process for transportation construction projects.
