LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (June 5, 2023) — The Eastern Regulatory Office located in Lenoir City, Tennessee, exists to serve customers and preserve aquatic resources through its role in the Department of the Army Regulatory Program.
The Eastern Regulatory Office, which is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District, permits reasonable development through equitable, adaptable, and impartial permit decisions. The team advises the public about the Regulatory Program and assesses permit applications for virtually all activities within regulated Corps waterways under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
The Nashville District covers parts of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. The Nashville District provides robust protection of the nation's aquatic resources, including wetlands, to enhance the efficiency of the Corps' Regulatory Program and ensure that the Corps delivers equitable, reasonable, and timely decisions to applicants.
Regulatory Specialist Mary Ann Brannan helps with reviewing and processing permit applications and helps conduct jurisdictional determinations of “Waters of the U.S.” for customers and consultants. She said it’s her responsibility to go out and look at streams and wetlands to determine if they are federally regulated or not.
“If those applications have associated impacts on Corps regulated waterways or protected lands, we determine if permits are needed or not, and how we can permit them with the least amount of impact,” Brannan said.
Brannan began her career with the Corps of Engineers as a co-op student park ranger at J. Percy Priest Lake. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University, she began working in the Regulatory Division, and has been happily working with the Corps for 25 years.
“I’ve achieved a lot during my time with the Corps. I’ve worked closely with TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) over the years completing permits for the main river system of the Tennessee River requiring a lot of dock permit reviews and community boat slips or marinas,” said Brannan.
Brannan added that one of the best parts of her job is going out into the field conducting jurisdictional determinations where she gets to go out and “play” in the mud a little bit collecting and analyzing soil samples and looking at plant biological species for classification.
Areas that fall under the Corps' jurisdiction include marshes, swamps, streams, creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, and seasonally saturated forested and non-forested wetlands. The Eastern Regulatory Office works closely with federal partners like the National Park Service and the Forest Service to complete projects located in the Smoky Mountains. Bank stabilization projects also require close collaboration with TVA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The regulatory team collaborates and works with federal agencies to protect the environment while providing timely permit decisions to customers. Most activities within jurisdictional areas require a permit from the Corps. These activities include dredging of waterways, bank stabilization, recreational ponds and lakes, construction of fixed and floating docks/boat slips, marinas, fleeting areas, boat ramps, roads, transportation crossings, residential and commercial developments, utility lines, and mining activities.
Regulatory Specialist Ken Jones has been with the Corps for 23 years. Before that he worked with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for eight years. Jones will be retiring in June and said his time with the Corps provided several unique experiences that he’ll continue to gain fulfillment from well after retirement.
“I’ve worked for different agencies over the years and working with the Corps has been the most fun, the most challenging, but most importantly the most fulfilling. The Eastern office has been a great group of people to work with and I’ve built some really great relationships with my coworkers,” said Jones.
Jones also said one of his recent accomplishments involved assisting in the approval of the new baseball stadium in downtown Knoxville for the Knoxville Smokies. The Corps became involved with this project due to a stream running through the project site, which will be partially encapsulated in the design of the stadium.
Jones said he was also heavily involved in the development of the riverfront, collaborating with various marinas and TVA to ensure the project was successfully completed in a timely manner.
“It's fascinating to see the progress we've made over the years, and I’ve been a part of so many great projects. One project I’m proud of was my work with coal mines in southeast Kentucky a few years ago. While it was challenging, it was ultimately rewarding. I'm excited to continue finding ways to push these projects forward,” Jones added.
While the work done in the filed by the regulatory specialists is important, the ball can’t get rolling without first filing the proper permit paperwork. Regulatory Program Assistant Vessica Ragon completes administrative work for the Eastern Regulatory Field Office and helps applicants with the beginning process.
Ragon said when projects come through the proper channels, she puts them into a drop box and monitors the email box for timely communication with the applicants. She completes all required forms and then assigns the project to a regulatory specialist, and also assists applicants needing boat dock permits and grant letters.
Within the last year, Ragon has completed the most permits within the Nashville District.
“I’ve processed ample amounts of permits just within the past year, helping to maintain a high level of service from our district. We’re directly impacting the communities by getting them these permits in a timely manner so they can build the things which will accomplish their goals,” Ragon said.
The Corps of Engineers works closely with the TVA, which also has permitting authority for lakes and rivers on the Tennessee River. Regulatory Division Deputy Chief Casey Ehorn said even though the Corps and TVA are two separate federal agencies, many projects require collaboration.
“When TVA and the Corps receive a permit application for the same project, we try to be economical and ensure there’s only one federal agency taking the lead and reviewing these projects. That lightens the load for the other federal agency and lets the agency with the most viable resources lead those projects for environmental compliance, making an efficient use of government resources,” said Ehorn.
To determine whether a proposed activity requires a permit or whether any protect waterways are present on your property or within your project area, please call the Eastern Regulatory Office at (865) 986-7296. Please note that the Nashville District Corps of Engineers will make the final determination of whether an area is a jurisdictional "water of the U.S." and whether the activity requires a permit.
The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest Nashville District employment and contracting opportunities at https://www.linkedin.com/company/u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-nashville-district.