Roadmap to 404 Permitting (404(b)(1) Guidelines)

The Clean Water Act, in Section 404(b)(1), requires that guidelines be developed to protect waters from discharge of dredged and fill materials. Thus, the guidelines that were developed and codified into regulation are referred to as the “404(b)(1) Guidelines,” and they can be found at 40CFR230.

The regulations state in the purpose and policy section:

“Fundamental to the Guidelines is the precept that dredged or fill material should not be discharged into the aquatic ecosystem, unless it can be demonstrated that such a discharge will not have an unacceptable adverse impact either individually or in combination with known and/or probable impacts of other activities affecting the ecosystems of concern.”

(40CFR230.1(c))

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