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Email: SPKRegulatoryMailbox@usace.army.mil

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The Regulatory Program

The Department of the Army's Regulatory Program is one of the oldest in the federal government. Initially, it served a simple purpose: to protect and maintain the navigable capacity of the nation's waters. Changing public needs, evolving policy, court decisions and new statutory mandates have changed several aspects of the program including its breadth, complexity and authority.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through the Regulatory Program, administers and enforces Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (RHA) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Under RHA Section 10, a permit is required for work or structures in, over or under navigable waters of the United States. Under CWA Section 404, a permit is required for the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States. Many waterbodies and wetlands in the nation are waters of the United States and are subject to the Corps' regulatory authority.

The Regulatory Program is committed to protecting the Nation's aquatic resources and navigation capacity, while allowing reasonable development through fair and balanced permit decisions. The Corps evaluates permit applications for essentially all construction activities that occur in the Nation's waters, including wetlands.

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Latest News

  • November 20, 2025 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army published the proposed rule "Updated Definition of "Waters of the United States" in the Federal Register (FR). Comments on the proposed rule can be submitted to the docket at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322. The 45-day comment period will close on January 5, 2026. 

  • October 15, 2025 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District signed a Programmatic Agreement under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act with the Utah State Historic Preservation Officer for small-scale undertakings.

  • September 22, 2023 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the launch of a new “No Permit Required” module on its Regulatory Request System (RRS). RRS is accessible at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs.

  • September 18, 2025 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) published a new Technical Note (TN), Identifying Hydric Soils Using α,α′-Dipyridyl Dye. The TN can be found at: https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/items/a63ba761-1454-4e48-80eb-f6520e657cbd.

  • July 29, 2025 - The Headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released two new resources designed to improve the consistency and efficiency of aquatic resource delineations. The Recommended Minimum Standards for Aquatic Resource Delineation Reports (ARDR) outlines recommended minimum standards for documenting aquatic resource delineations in an ARDR. The Guide for Recording Aquatic Resource Delineations Using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provides recommendations for using high-accuracy GNSS receivers and GIS to electronically map aquatic resource boundaries. Both documents can be found at the HQ technical and biological resources page.

  • July 3, 2025 - Following the repeal of the Council on Environmental Quality’s NEPA regulations on April 11, 2025, the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works signed a new interim final rule that contains NEPA procedures codified in Title 33 of the Code of Federation Regulations Part 333 (33 CFR 333) for the Corps’ Regulatory Program and Section 408. The new procedures replace the Regulatory Program’s NEPA implementing procedures at 33 CFR 325, Appendix B. The interim final rule is effective for all permit applications and Section 408 permission requests submitted on or after July 3, 2025.

Submit Your Request

The Regulatory Request System is your one-stop shop for submitting requests for a pre-application meeting, jurisdictional determination, permit, and confirmation that no permit is required.  With RRS, you can also track your requests, learn about the Regulatory Program, and much more!












Learn more about submitting a permit application here.

Our Commitment

Public Service is a Public Trust. As Corps Regulators, we must earn this trust and, to keep this trust, we must conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects the following principles:

Professional. We will conduct ourselves in a professional manner in dealings with all our customers, including applicants, violators, agencies, interest groups and the general public.
Fair and Reasonable. We will be open-minded, impartial, and consistent in our interactions with all our customers to ensure all actions and decisions are free from bias and are not arbitrary or capricious. Customers will be treated equally and with tolerance.
Knowledgeable. We will remain knowledgeable of applicable laws, regulations, and scientific and technical advances which affect our program.
Honesty. We will be truthful, straightforward, and candid in all dealings with our customers.
Timeliness. We will strive to provide our customers with timely regulatory responses regardless of whether those responses are favorable or adverse.
Accountability. We will be decisive in all actions and accept responsibility for any of our decisions and resulting consequences. All decisions will be factual and properly documented.
Respect. We will treat our customers with dignity, courtesy, compassion, and sensitivity.