154 • Wetlands: Their Use and Regulation 



PROCESSING COSTS 



Processing costs are those costs incurred by appli- 

 cants to produce information needed for the per- 

 mit process. Such information may include applica- 

 tion fees, maps, project plans, and EISs. 



Private individuals are charged a $10 applica- 

 tion fee for a 404 permit. Permit applications for 

 commercial purposes cost $100. A set of drawings 

 showing the location of the proposed project and 

 the work to be performed must be submitted. Many 

 applicants employ engineering firms to produce 

 such drawings. According to IWR, some firms will 

 handle all procedural details of applications, with 

 fees ranging from $100 to $500. ^^ 



Applicants may be required to submit additional 

 information beyond what is required normally, 

 however. Applications that appear to have major 

 environmental impacts, for example, often must be 

 accompanied by detailed EISs.^^ The fees paid by 

 applicants to environmental consultants preparing 

 EIS's often are substantial, costing tens of thou- 

 sands of dollars and representing a major share of 

 permitting costs.* The costs of EIS preparation, 

 however, cannot always be attributed to the 404 

 program. Authority to require a developer to sub- 

 mit an EIS comes from NEPA, not from section 

 404. In many cases, if the Corps did not require 

 an EIS for 404 considerations, another Federal 

 agency with permitting authority over the project 

 could require it or be sued by an outside group seek- 

 ing to make the agency exercise this prerogative. 

 Another major difficulty in estimating the costs of 

 404 application and preparation is that some, or 

 even most, of the environmental analyses under- 

 taken by firms (which can constitute the greatest 

 source of expense) may be required in any case by 



"Institute for Water Resources, op. cit., p. 146. 



"The Washington Post. Sept. 13, 1982. The number of NEPA suits 

 filed for "projects affecting wetlands or bodies of water" constituted 

 almost 13 percent of all suits filed in 1980, tying for second place among 

 18 categories. 



*The Fertilizer Institute claimed that in one instance fees totaled 

 %3 million. 



States with strong environmental programs and 

 may be undertaken not only for wetland-related 

 concerns but also for other environmental con- 

 siderations. Also, many firms engage in advance 

 planning and environmental programs of their own, 

 the results of which are used in 404 applications. 



The OTA survey asked associations to estimate 

 the costs of application and processing of 404 per- 

 mits. Most associations said that costs vary with 

 the scope and controversy of the proposed permit. 

 Only a few associations gave quantified estimates. 

 The FI estimate was $1,000 to $3 million. Of the 

 three firms making up the American Waterways 

 Operators, Inc. (A WO), response, one estimated 

 such costs as $500, another's estimate was $20,000 

 to $25,000, and one said that "costs can run into 

 the tens of thousands of dollars." For the two ports 

 answering this question on the American Associa- 

 tion of Port Authorities (AAPA) response, one said 

 that "preproject paperwork" increased by 20 to 50 

 percent for small projects. The other said that costs 

 can vary from $25,000 to over $100,000. 



The response from API/NFPA said that signifi- 

 cant costs are experienced occasionally when Fed- 

 eral agency evaluation is necessary to assess the ap- 

 plicability of 404(f) exemptions to a project. In one 

 instance, a firm devoted 120 staff hours to prepar- 

 ing support for its view that planned activities fell 

 under 404 exemptions. 



IWR estimated that processing costs in fiscal year 

 1980 totaled $17.3 million, averaging $91 1 per ap- 

 plication, or $1,226 for government, $652 for indi- 

 vidual, and an implied $ 1 , 1 79 for commercial appli- 

 cations.^* The assumptions and methods by which 

 IWR cadculations were made were not explained, 

 and the resulting estimations may be inaccurate 

 (11). 



"Institute for Water Resources, op. cit., p. 173. IWR did not give 

 an average for commercial applications. The figure listed here was 

 calculated using IWR figures for the cost borne by different types of 

 applicants and for the number of commercial applications. 



