NEEDS ANALYSIS AND ALTERNATIVE ANALYSIS

The Individual Permit (IP) process, and to a lesser extent the Nationwide Permit (NWP) process, requires that the need for a proposed project be clearly established. Authorization is unlikely without documentation of project need with respect to the public interest of the project. Depending on the nature of the project, justification of need can include new or expanded production facilities to meet increased demand for a product, new or expanded transportation facilities to handle higher vehicle volume, or new or expanded retail facilities to accommodate a large number of consumers or cater to a new geographic area.

The IP process, requires that a permit applicant demonstrate compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 404(b)(1) guidelines. To be successful, the applicant must document that the proposed project has no available alternatives that meet the project need and have less impacts to jurisdictional waters considering cost, logistics and practicability. What this means to the applicant is that an alternatives analysis must be performed documenting why other potential project sites do not meet project needs or have greater impacts to jurisdictional waters. Also included in the alternatives analysis is documenting that the configuration of site development avoids and minimizes on-site impacts to the maximum extent practicable. Only after the US Army Corps of Engineers concurs that the 404(b)(1) guidelines have been met will they evaluate a compensatory mitigation plan for the proposed project.