USACE, South Atlantic Division -- This announcement serves to inform the public that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Atlantic Division, has authorized the use of special emergency processing procedures for the Caribbean, Charleston, Jacksonville, Mobile, Savannah, and Wilmington Districts, as outlined in 33 CFR § 325.2(e)(4). This decision follows Executive Order (E.O.) 14156, signed by the President on January 20, 2025, declaring a National Energy Emergency. The order, enacted under the President’s authority, including the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq) and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, aims to accelerate efforts to address the energy crisis.
Under Sections 2 and 3 of E.O. 14156, these expedited procedures apply to projects tied to domestic energy resources—such as identifying, siting, producing, transporting, refining, and generating energy, including related infrastructure. This includes activities needing Department of the Army permits under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, 33 USC §408 (Section 408), or Section 103 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, as amended. For the reasons stated in Sec. 1 of E.O. 14156, the President has found that insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to our Nation’s economy, national security, and foreign policy and declared a national emergency on the basis of those findings. The President has found in E.O. 14156 that immediate, unforeseen, and significant economic hardship could be experienced if corrective action requiring a permit is not undertaken within a time period less than the normal time needed to process the application under standard permitting procedures for activities meeting the terms of the declared emergency, and has directed agencies to use, to the fullest extent possible and consistent with applicable law, emergency Army Corps permitting provisions to facilitate the Nation’s energy supply.
Details of these emergency procedures will be available on each District’s website, listed below, no later than April 15, 2025.