Ch. 1 — Summary * 11 



water areas. Because there are few application or 

 reporting requirements for activities within areas 

 covered by general permits, the Corps has limited 

 regulatory control over these areas. 



Third, several administrative problems presendy 

 limit the program's effectiveness, including signifi- 

 cant variations in the way different districts imple- 

 ment key elements of the 404 program, the lack of 

 coordination between some districts and other Fed- 

 eral and State agencies, inadequate public aware- 

 ness efforts, and the low priority given monitoring 

 and enforcement. 



EFFECTS OF THE 404 PROGRAM ON WETLANDS 



Estimates made by OTA based on the best avail- 

 able information suggest that present conversion 

 rates are probably about 300,000 acres per 

 year.* Approximately 250,000 acres per year result 

 from the unregulated conversion of inland wet- 

 lands, primarily for agricultural use, while 50,000 

 acres per year result from conversions regulated by 

 the 404 program and State regulatory programs. 

 Of this latter figure, about 5,000 acres are located 

 in coastal areas. 



According to their own estimates for 1980-81, 

 the Corps authorized projects that, if completed in 

 accordance with the conditions of the permits, re- 

 sulted in the conversion of about 50 percent of the 

 acreage applied for. Data from NMFS for the coast- 

 al wetlands (in the lower 48 States) indicate that 

 the 404 program, in combination with State regu- 

 latory programs, reduced the conversion of coastal 

 saltwater wetlands by 70 to 85 percent in 1981. 

 In addition, some conversions may be deterred sim- 

 ply by the existence of the regulatory programs, and 

 other conversions may be avoided through preap- 

 plication consultations with the Corps. 



Finally, each year about 5,000 acres of vegetated 

 wetlands are either created or restored for mitiga- 

 tion purposes as a direct result of the "condition- 

 ing" of 404 permits. 



* Because of uncertainties and variability associated with available 

 data and the extrapolations that were made from these data, these 

 estimates may be off by 10 to 20 percent. 



EFFECTS OF THE 404 PROGRAM 

 ON DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES 



Developers' objections to the 404 program fo- 

 cus mainly on the delays and costs imposed by the 

 regulatory process. There are probably numerous 

 cases where the regulatory costs to developers have 

 been substantial — in some cases, millions of dollars. 

 But little verifiable data are available to docu- 

 ment the overall impacts of the 404 program on 

 development activities, especially as they relate 

 to costs imposed by other programs and policies 

 (e.g., sec. 10 of the River and Harbor Act, Na- 

 tional Environmental Policy Act requirements. 

 State programs, £md locad ordinances) and general 

 economic conditions. 



Some developers question the need for a Federal 

 program to protect all wetlands; the congressional 

 intent of section 404 relative to wedand protection; 

 inadequate consideration by regulatory agencies of 

 the value of development activities; inconsistencies 

 in the program implementation by Corps districts; 

 and possible inefficiencies or inequities in program 

 administration, including duplication of State wet- 

 land programs. Many also believe that the market 

 value of wetland areas decreases when they fall 

 within the jurisdiction of the Corps' regulatory pro- 

 gram. 



All permit applicants bear at least some 404- 

 related costs resulting from permit denials, mod- 

 ifications of projects, permit processing, and 

 processing delays. Of approximately 1 1,000 proj- 

 ect applications per year, slightly less than 3 per- 

 cent are denied; about one-third are significantly 

 modified; and about 14 percent are withdrawn by 

 applicants (fig. B). About half are approved without 

 significant modifications. In 1980 approximately 

 one-third of all issued permits took longer than 120 

 days to process; in 1983 the average processing time 

 was about 70 days. Less than 1 percent of all per- 

 mitted projects require an Environmental Impact 

 Statement (EIS), which may take several years to 

 complete. Delays in processing permit applica- 

 tions for a relatively few large-scale projects (that 

 represent the bulk of the economic value of all pro- 

 posed development activities) probably account for 

 a substantial portion of the total costs to industry 

 associated with the 404 program. 



