Section 53 Unregulated Activities and Nationwide Permits

• Library: Environmental Law 2007 Supp

Certain aspects associated with dredge and fill activities are not regulated under CWA § 404. Section 404 contains a number of statutory exemptions. See 33 U.S.C. § 1344(f)(1). These exemptions include activities associated with:

• normal farming, silviculture (timber or forestry), and ranching activities
• maintenance of currently serviceable structures
• construction and maintenance of farm stock ponds, irrigation ditches, and drainage ditches
• construction of temporary sediment basins
• road construction and maintenance of farm and forest roads with best management practices; and
• nonpoint source management plan.

Id. Probably the most significant exemption is for “normal farming, silviculture [i.e., timber or forestry], and ranching activities.” Section 1344(f)(1)(A); see alsoUnited States v. Brace, 41 F.3d 117 (3P^rdP Cir. 1994) (farming and silviculture exemption). Each of the statutory exemptions is significantly limited by the provision making them inapplicable if the activity has “as its purpose bringing an area of the navigable waters into a use to which it was not previously subject, where the flow or circulation of navigable waters may be...