EMERGENCY PERMIT PROCEDURES FOR TORRENTIAL RAIN EVENT AND FLASHFLOODS IN PUERTO RICO

EMERGENCY PERMIT PROCEDURES
FOR TORRENTIAL RAIN EVENT AND FLASHFLOODS IN PUERTO RICO
The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will initiate the following emergency permitting procedures within Puerto Rico in response to conditions resulting from the passage of a trough that affected the island of Puerto Rico from May 1st through May 8th 2024 resulting in torrential rain and flash floods. These alternate procedures are authorized until December 23, 2024.

In accordance with 33 CFR 325.2(e)(4), an “emergency” is a situation which would result in an unacceptable hazard to life, a significant loss of property, or an immediate, unforeseen, and significant economic hardship 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 procedures.

Most permitting will likely be accomplished through the nationwide permit (NWP) program. For example, most aspects of containment/cleanup/restoration activities may be authorized via NWP 3. These activities would be accomplished under the authorities of Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344).

Applicants should submit an Emergency Permit Request form to:
rd-antilles@usace.army.mil to expedite processing of the application. This request form and other helpful information can be found on our webpage at https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/.

For those actions which do not qualify for authorization under the terms and conditions of the NWP program, the following procedures will be used:

Applicants should submit an Emergency Permit Request form to:
rd-antilles@usace.army.mil to expedite processing of the application. Applicants should clearly label their requests “Emergency Permitting” to assist Regulatory staff to readily distinguish your request from non-emergency applications.

Emergency permitting requests will be reviewed to determine if there is truly an emergency situation associated with the rainstorms.

If the action is determined to be an emergency, descriptions of the proposed action will be emailed by the Corps to representatives from each of the commenting agencies, including the agencies responsible for Section 401 Water Quality Certification and Coastal Zone Management Consistency, if required.

A decision will be made after review by the agencies. For most projects, it is anticipated that this process can be finalized within 24-48 hours.

For additional information, please contact Christian Karvounis, Program Manager, at (561) 785-3309 or via email at Christian.G.Karvounis@usace.army.mil.