§ 331.6 Filing an appeal.

(a) An affected party appealing an approved JD, permit denial or declined permit must submit an RFA that is received by the division engineer within 60 days of the date of the NAP. Flow charts illustrating the appeal process are in the Appendices of this part.

(b) In the case where an applicant objects to an initial proffered individual permit, the appeal process proceeds as follows. To initiate the appeal process regarding the terms and special conditions of the permit, the applicant must write a letter to the district engineer explaining his objections to the permit. The district engineer, upon evaluation of the applicant's objections, may: Modify the permit to address all of the applicant's objections or modify the permit to address some, but not all, of the applicant's objections, or not modify the permit, having determined that the permit should be issued as previously written. In the event that the district engineer agrees to modify the initial proffered individual permit to address all of the applicant's objections, the district engineer will proffer such modified permit to the applicant, enclosing an NAP fact sheet and an RFA form as well. Should the district engineer modify the initial proffered individual permit to address some, but not all, of the applicant's objections, the district engineer will proffer such modified permit to the applicant, enclosing an NAP fact sheet, RFA form, and a copy of the decision document for the project. If the district engineer does not modify the initial proffered individual permit, the district engineer will proffer the unmodified permit to the applicant a second time, enclosing an NAP fact sheet, an RFA form, and a copy of the decision document. If the applicant still has objections, after receiving the second proffered permit (modified or unmodified), the applicant may decline such proffered permit; this declined permit may be appealed to the division engineer upon submittal of a complete RFA form. The completed RFA must be received by the division engineer within 60 days of the NAP. A flow chart of an applicant's options for an initial proffered individual permit is shown in appendix B of this part. A flow chart of the appeal process for a permit denial or a declined permit (i.e., a proffered permit declined after the Corps decision on the applicant's objections to the initial proffered permit) is shown in appendix A of this part. A flow chart of the appeal process for an approved jurisdictional determination is shown in appendix C of this part. A flow chart of the process for when an unacceptable request for appeal is returned to an applicant is shown in appendix D of this part.

(c) An approved JD will be reconsidered by the district engineer if the affected party submits new information or data to the district engineer within 60 days of the date of the NAP. (An RFA that contains new information will either be returned to the district engineer for reconsideration or the appeal will be processed if the applicant withdraws the new information.) The district engineer has 60 days from the receipt of such new information or data to review the new information or data, consider whether or not that information changes the previously approved JD, and, reissue the approved JD or issue a new approved JD. The reconsideration of an approved JD by the district engineer does not commence the administrative appeal process. The affected party may appeal the district engineer's reissued or new approved JD.

(d) The district engineer may not delegate his signature authority to deny the permit with prejudice or to return an individual permit to the applicant with unresolved objections. The district engineer may delegate signature authority for JDs, including approved JDs.

(e) Affected parties may appeal approved JDs where the determination was dated after March 28, 2000, but may not appeal approved JDs dated on or before March 28, 2000. The Corps will begin processing JD appeals no later than May 30, 2000. All appeals must meet the criteria set forth in § 331.5. If work is authorized by either general or individual permit, and the affected party wishes to request an appeal of the JD associated with the general permit authorization or individual permit or the special conditions of the proffered individual permit, the appeal must be received by the Corps and the appeal process concluded prior to the commencement of any work in waters of the United States and prior to any work that could alter the hydrology of waters of the United States.