2020年4月15日，美国地区法院为蒙大拿州的地区发出了一项可能对全国能源和发展项目进行席卷的裁决。The court ruled that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) violated provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it approved Nationwide Permit (NWP 12) in 2017. The permit was obtained by TC Energy to facilitate the progress of the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline project, but this ruling will create greater obstacles for the large-scale project and pipeline projects nationally. The Court vacated NWP 12 in its entirety and ordered the Corp to undergo a programmatic review of the permits’ potential impacts on endangered species as required by the ESA.
NWP 12是一项五年一般许可，允许石油和燃气管道，电动传输线和电话，电视和互联网电缆交叉或排放到联邦监管的湿地和水路中，而无需广泛冗长的审查过程。NWP允许高达½英亩的湿地或美国水域丧失。如果项目将导致不到1/10TH.湿地丢失的英亩，不需要对军团的应用（PCN =预设通知）。第404（e）条授权的全国允许的清洁水法（CWA）和1899年河流和港口第10节（RHA）经常用于简化造成最小的个体和累积不良环境影响的项目。有超过五十个NWPS授权特定活动。当2017年重新发行NWPS时，任何NWP都没有对任何与ESA进行遵守的程序审查。相反，一组一般条件（GC）适用于所有NWP。GC 18要求在NWP 12或任何其他NWP下授权的每个项目，以避免对联邦上市的威胁或濒危物种或关键境内的任何影响，而无需在ESA下进行磋商。
除了停止Keyston建设e XL across much of its route, thousands of development projects nationwide that rely on NWP 12 might now be facing regulatory limbo. The Corp will currently be unable to streamline other linear utility projects through this permitting process until ESA consultation is complete. Those seeking permitting to move forward with construction may have to postpone their activities or pursue separate authorization under the more complex and time-intensive CWA 404 Individual Permit.
此时，咨询过程后，尚不确定适用项目将如何影响应用程序。管道和其他公用事业开发人员现在必须重新评估允许在NWP 12授权时设计的当前和未来项目的允许选择，因为NWP在全国范围内腾出。在第404（e）条下，有些项目可能会在单独的NWP下涵盖，可能需要进一步的互动咨询，并长期重新评估管道和电缆路线和项目时间表。虽然这一裁决仅适用于NWP 12，但其他50个PLUS NWPS接受了编程ESA审查。It is likely that other challenges will be filed to argue that the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana should apply to all NWPs, which could stop or delay Section 404 permitting for a wide variety of projects that affect wetlands and Waters of the US – development, mining, navigation, transportation, energy, etc.
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