CRS-128 



under Federal regulatory jurisdiction. (As discussed in Chapter III, no State 

 has, as yet, been delegated program management authority.) 



The 1977 amendments also allow States under some circumstances to exempt 

 certain categories of minor discharges by implementing statewide regulatory pro- 

 grams for so-called nonpoint sources of pollution under section 208 of the same 

 Act. (Nonpoint source pollution includes stormwater runoff from rural and urban 

 areas, forestry and construction activities, and abandoned mine drainage that 

 does not enter the waterway from a single point, usually a pipe.) Programs 

 established under section 208 would utilize "best management practices (BMPs)," 

 such as streambank protection or planting of vegetation that would be appropriate 

 for controlling farm roads or maintaining existing fills, and they would offer 

 States the opportunity to effect controls using less detailed procedures than 

 those required under section 404. However, the Act limits the types of activ- 

 ities that may be regulated under section 208 rather than under section 404, 

 to those having minor individual and cumulative impacts. 180 / Moreover, the 

 utility of the section 208 program for displacing the Federal process is at 

 least procedurally limited, since States must have an EPA-approved section 

 404 program as a prerequisite, and none is yet in place. 



Some concern had been expressed that there was significant potential, if 

 not actual, delay resulting from the review of section 404 permits by various 

 Federal agencies. In response, Congress also added in 1977 two provisions to 

 ensure speedy processing of such applications. The first required the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service to submit any written comments on the permit application 

 within 90 days. The second required the Corps to enter into a Memorandum of 

 Agreement with other Federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, 



180 / FWPCA, section 208(b)(4). 



