Activities Regulated Under the Clean Water Act Section 404 Permitting Program

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Laws 

• Clean Water Act Section 301, Section 402, Section 404, and Section 502 
• SMCRA AOC requirements - 30 USC 1265 

Regulations 

• Corps/EPA 1977 regulation defining regulated activities ; 1986 rulemaking (51 Fed. Reg. 41206, 41210 (Nov. 13, 1986)); 1993 rulemaking (58 Fed. Reg. 45007, 45008 (Aug. 25, 1993)); 1999 rulemaking (64 Fed. Reg. 25120 (May 10, 1999)); 2001 rulemaking (66 Fed. Reg. 4550 (Jan. 17, 2001)); 2008 rulemaking (73 Fed. Reg. 79641 (Dec. 30, 2008)) 

• Current Corps regulations defining regulated activities (33 CFR 323.2) 
• Current EPA regulations defining regulated activities (40 CFR 232.2) 
• 1992 version of Corps regulations at 33 CFR 330.5 

Other Resources 

• Alaska DNR Resource Page for Coeur Alaska (Kensington Mine) 
• Appalachian Regional Commission, Economic Overview of Appalachia (2011)
• Appalachian Voices, Mountaintop Removal 101
• Borden Ranch Partnership v. United States Army Corps of Engineers Oral Argument Audio 
• Coeur Alaska v. S.E. Alaska Conservation Council Oral Argument Audio 
• Coeur Alaska 404 permit and 402 permit 
• Coeur Alaska Operating Plan ​
• Deep Ripping Video on Facebook
• Deep Ripping Video on YouTube  
• EPA Jurisdictional Determination for Avoyelles 
• Froth Flotation Explained 
• Carl H. Herschner, Tulloch Drilling, Wetlands Technical Report 99-4 (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, May 1999)
• Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, How Does Mountaintop Removal Affect the Economy?
• Mountaintop Mining Links from EPA, NRDC, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Appalachian Voices and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth 
• Mountaintop Removal Videos from Appalachian Voices, Smithsonian, and Discovery
• Western Australia Dept. of  Agriculture and Food, Deep Ripping 

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Policies and Reports

• Claudia Copeland, Mountaintop Mining: Background on Current Controversies, Congressional Research Service RS21421 (Dec. 2, 2013)
• Claudia Copeland, Wetlands: An Overview of Issues, Congressional Research Service RL 33483 (July 12, 2010)
• Memorandum of Understanding among the U.S. Department of the Army, U.S. Department of the Interior, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Implementing the Interagency Action Plan on Appalachian Surface Coal Mining (June 11, 2009)​
• Regulatory Guidance Letter 85-04, Avoyelles (March 29, 1985)

• Regulatory Guidance Letter 90-05, Land-clearing Activities Subject to Section 404 Jurisdiction (July 18, 1990) 
• Regulatory Guidance Letter 96-02, Applicability of Exemptions under Section 404(f) to “Deep Ripping” Activities in Wetlands (Dec. 12, 1996)
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Kensington Gold Project, Final Environmental Impact Statement (Dec. 2004)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Effects of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Aquatic Ecosystems of the Central Appalachian Coalfields (EPA 600/R-09/138f) (March 2011)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on Mountaintop Mining/Valley Fills in Appalachia, EPA 903-R-05-002 (Oct. 2005)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mid-Atlantic Mountaintop Mining