Home / Missions / Regulatory

Questions or Comments?

Email: CESWT-RO@usace.army.mil

Submit Applications to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
CESWT-RO
2488 E. 81st Street
Tulsa, OK  74137-4290

Phone: 918-669-7400

Customer Survey Customer Survey

 

Regulatory Request System

Visit RRS to:
  • Apply Online for:
    Permits, Pre-Application Meetings, & JDs
  • Track Request Status
  • Report Violations
  • Submit Public Notice Comments
  • Learn about the Regulatory Program

Links

Welcome to the Regulatory Links Section. For description of the link, press the ... next to each link.

Regulatory Program Overview

Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Travertine Creek, Lincoln Bridge (NPS)

The mission of the Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program is to protect the nation's aquatic resources, while allowing reasonable development through fair, flexible, and balanced permit decisions. The Corps evaluates permit applications for essentially all construction activities that occur in the nation's waters, including wetlands. Corps permits are also necessary for any work, including construction and dredging, in the nation’s navigable waters.

The Corps balances the reasonably foreseeable benefits and detriments of proposed projects, and makes permit decisions that recognize the essential values of the nation's aquatic ecosystems to the general public, as well as the property rights of private citizens who want to use their land. During the permit process, the Corps considers the views of other federal, state and local agencies, interest groups, and the general public.

The results of this careful public interest review are fair and equitable decisions that allow reasonable use of private property, infrastructure development, and growth of the economy, while offsetting the authorized impacts to the waters of the U.S. Unavoidable adverse impacts to the aquatic environment are offset by mitigation requirements, which may include restoring, enhancing, creating, and preserving aquatic functions and values. The Corps strives to make its permit decisions in a timely manner.

Our Commitment to Public Service

Public service is a public trust. We, as Corps regulators, must earn this trust, and to keep this trust, we must conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects the following principles:

PROFESSIONAL - We will conduct ourselves in a professional manner in dealings with all our customers, including applicants, violators, agencies, interest groups and the general public.

FAIR AND REASONABLE - We will be open-minded, impartial, and consistent in our interactions with all our customers to ensure all actions and decisions are free from bias and are not arbitrary or capricious. Customers will be treated equally and with tolerance.

KNOWLEDGEABLE - We will remain knowledgeable of applicable laws, regulations, and scientific and technical advances which affect our program.

HONESTY - We will be truthful, straightforward, and candid in all dealings with our customers.

TIMELINESS - We will strive to provide our customers with timely regulatory responses regardless of whether those responses are favorable or adverse.

ACCOUNTABILITY - We will be decisive in all actions and accept responsibility for any of our decisions and resulting consequences. All decisions will be factual and properly documented.

RESPECT - We will treat our customers with dignity, courtesy, compassion, and sensitivity.

"Value to the Nation"

Visit Value to the Nation to learn how the Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program applies the nation's clean water laws and regulations to ensure that environmental impacts on aquatic resources are avoided, minimized, or mitigated. The Corps of Engineers is dedicated to protecting the nation's aquatic resources while allowing reasonable and necessary development.

 

Authorities

Provisions written in three federal laws give responsibility to the Corps of Engineers to assess and control the impacts of human activities within specific water resource areas in the United States:

Congress' objective is to protect waterway navigation and the quality of surface water and ocean habitat. Two of these laws are applicable to the Tulsa District -- the Rivers and Harbors Act and the Clean Water Act. Additional clarification of these authorities is provided in the program's implementing regulations (33 CFR 320-332).

 

Regulatory Request System

Regulatory News

18 June 2025: USACE Seeks Public Comments on Proposal to Renew and Revise Nationwide Permits
USACE HQ Regulatory 
Published June 18, 2025

USACE announced today it is seeking comments on its proposal to renew and revise 56 existing nationwide permits and issue one new nationwide permit authorizing activities associated with improving fish passage. A public notice soliciting comments on the proposed set of revised nationwide permits was published in the June 18, 2025, Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/06/18/2025-11190/proposal-to-reissue-and-modify-nationwide-permits. USACE will accept written comments through July 18, 2025. Comments may be submitted by e-mail to 2026nationwidepermits@usace.army.mil or through the Federal eRulemaking portal at www.regulations.gov at docket number COE-2025-0002, or by mail to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO-R, 441 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20314-1000.

16 June 2025: USACE Announces Proposal to Renew and Revise Nationwide Permits
USACE HQ Public Affairs Office
Published June 16, 2025

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced today that it has prepared its proposal to renew and revise 56 of 57 existing nationwide permits for work in wetlands and other waters that are regulated by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and/or Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. USACE will propose not to reissue one nationwide permit authorizing activities associated with finfish mariculture.

USACE will also propose to issue one new nationwide permit that pertains to authorizing activities to facilitate fish passage. 

A prepublication copy of the proposal has been posted on the USACE website at: https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/National-Notices-and-Program-Initiatives/ 

The proposal is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register by the end of June and will be announced in a separate news release. The public comment period will not begin until the proposal is published in the Federal Register. The news release and Federal Register Notice will provide information on how public comments should be submitted.

The nationwide permits authorize activities that are similar in nature and cause only minimal adverse environmental impacts to aquatic resources separately or on a cumulative basis. Activities range from work associated with aids to navigation and utility lines to residential developments and maintenance activities.

Following the public comment period, USACE will review the comments received and prepare final nationwide permits that will replace the current set. Sixteen of the current nationwide permits went into effect March 15, 2021, and 41 went into effect Feb. 25, 2022. All the current nationwide permits are set to expire March 14, 2026.

Additional information about the USACE Regulatory Program can be found at: https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/.  

8 May 2025: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers encourages use of Regulatory Request System for an improved permitting experience 

Last year the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers introduced its new Regulatory Request System (RRS), an online application portal that allows the public to submit permit applications and other information when requesting permission to dredge, fill or conduct activities in jurisdictional wetlands and waters of the U.S.

RRS is accessible at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs.

RRS users can submit individual permit applications, general permit pre-construction notifications, jurisdictional determination requests, and other information needed during the permit evaluation process using easy-to-follow online submission forms. Applicants can also track the status of their requests using a user-friendly dashboard. 

RRS benefits the applicant by eliminating the burden associated with the preparation and mailing of paper applications. It also reduces some of the effort associated with processing applications and data entry making the permitting process more efficient. Click here to learn more about the benefits of RRS (RRS Testimonial Video).

For more information on the USACE Regulatory Program visit https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/.

For further details or to provide feedback about the RRS, please contact USACE at rrs@usace.army.mil.

11 April 2025: Tulsa District Emergency Permitting Procedures
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District Regulatory
Published April 11, 2025

The Tulsa District Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Office, announces the establishment of special emergency processing procedures for activities subject to National Energy Emergency EO 14156 in Oklahoma, National Energy Emergency EO 14156 in Texas, and Emergency Permitting Procedures for Catastrophes and Disasters in Oklahoma. These documents can be found on our webpage at https://www.swt.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/Emergency-Procedures/.