The Clean Water Act's Section 404 Permit Program Enters Its Adolescence: An Institutional and Programmatic Perspective

Abstract

This article was an early assessment of the operation and significance of the wetlands protection permit program authorized by section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The article was written five years after the courts had ruled that the jurisdiction of the program was broader than that of program upon which it was built, the 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act permit program under section 10 of that statute. The article was also the first assessment of the effects of the 1977 Clean Water Act Amendments which, among other things, authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to grant states the right to issue certain 404 permits. In addition to examining the permit program's scope and permit process, the article discusses interagency relations between the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers--tension between the program administrators would characterize wetlands protection for years--as well as the role of the states and the relationship of section 404 with the other provisions of the Clean Water Act and state land and water use controls.

Keywords: environmental law, wetlands protection, Clean Water Act, Environmental Protection Agancy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

JEL Classification: K23, K32, N52, O13, O20, Q15, Q22, Q24, Q25, Q28, Q32, R38