Individual Permits (IP)
Standard Permit:
A Standard Permit is an individual permit that involves a full public interest review of an individual application for a Department of the Army permit. A public notice is distributed to all known interested persons. After evaluating all comments and information received, an environmental assessment is prepared and a final decision on the application is made.
The Public Notice is prepared by USACE project manager and is distributed to post offices, adjacent property owners, appropriate local governmental officials, including Federal and State resource agencies, Congressional representatives, local news media, the applicant and other interested persons. The comment period is usually 30 days. The permit decision is generally based on the outcome of a public interest balancing process where the benefits of the project are balanced against the detriments. A permit will be granted unless the proposal is found to be contrary to the public interest.
Processing time usually takes 90 to 120 days unless a public hearing is required, or an environmental impact statement must be prepared.
Letter of Permission (LOP)
A letter of Permission is an abbreviated permit review used to cover activities which slightly exceed NWP or RP criteria. (Note: The definition of "slightly" should be based on best professional judgement of the project manager).
LOPs are issued after a coordination period with Federal and State resource agencies and a public interest evaluation.
LOP procedures can be used for minor noncontroversial Section 10 projects and certain categories of Section 404 activities established through appropriate regulatory procedure.
Indiana-Specific LOPs:
General Permits (GP)
Nationwide Permits
A nationwide permit is a form of general permit that authorizes a category of activities throughout the nation. These permits are valid only if the conditions applicable to the permits are met. If the conditions cannot be met, then a regional or individual permit will be required.
Further information about Nationwide permits can be found here.
Regional and Programmatic General Permits
Regional and Programmatic General Permits, referred to as RGP’s and PGP’s, respectively, are issued for certain types of relatively minor construction activities. In Indiana, there is one RGP and one PGPs.