一个Montana federal judge who overturned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' water-crossing construction permit program for thousands of power and energy projects has denied the government's plea to immediately stay that ruling, which termed the agency's Nationwide Permit 12 illegal.

4月28日，美国蒙大拿州大瀑布市美国地方法院首席法官布莱恩·莫里斯（Brian Morris）法官拒绝了美国司法部动议，但他说，他将听取政府的简报，并在5月11日之前做出最终裁决。

这Justice Dept. says it intends to appeal to the U.S. appellate court in San Francisco as soon as May 12 if Morris does not reverse his decision.

4月15日，莫里斯（Morris）拒绝了Keystone XL的NWP 12许可，该许可证是有争议的诉讼主题，并撤消了Corps计划。他说，在2017年上次颁发许可证时，军团没有就濒危物种法案的保护措施与美国鱼类和野生动物服务局进行协商。

这roughly 1,200-mile Keystone XL pipeline crosses about 1,000 water bodies in its Alberta-to-Nebraska route.

Jennifer Moyer, chief of the Corps regulatory program, said in a court document she estimates that the agency has 5,500 pending NWP-12 pre-construction notifications awaiting verification.

她说，随着毯子许可证的停止，常规公用事业项目只能在获得需要逐案审查的个人许可证后继续进行。18luck官网NWP 12涵盖的活动包括任何美国公用事业线项目，例如电气宽带，光纤，电话和电视电缆以及石油和天然气管道。

根据莫里斯的裁决，该军团被广泛禁止授权根据许可证的任何疏edge或填补活动。这legal action means a delay for projects to gain individual permits by at least six months.

“In 2018, the average time to receive an NWP verification from the Corps was 45 days, while the average time to receive a standard individual permit from the Corps was 264 days,” Moyer said.

NWP 12许可证”is essential to the construction and maintenance of transmission and distribution lines that are vital to the resilience of the nation's electrical gridEdison电气研究所的一份声明说，代表投资者拥有的公用事业。

这ruling is “extremely disruptive and contrary to the public interest,” and an “abuse of discretion,” the Justice Dept. said. “The court’s remedy currently forbids any use of the NWP 12 for any possible project anywhere in the country,” the department said, calling it an "overreach" that will hinder maintenance, repair, upgrade or removal of any utility line.

“管道公司，公用事业，工程师，土地开发商和建筑公司依靠全国范围的许可证12用于公用事业线，并在潜在的湿地地区及其周围进行挖沟活动，将需要仔细地重新评估其在此一般许可工具下进行工作的能力，”说安德鲁（Andrew）带来了堪萨斯城的律师Spencer Fane LLC。

NWP 12 Challenge

预计法律挑战。

一个位于休斯敦的洛克·洛德（Lock）的ttorneysLLP said in an analysis that the government was not set to "simply accept such a broad order from the District Court on an issue with such far-ranging implications for construction of energy and infrastructure projects across the country–especially at a time when those industries and the nation’s economy as a whole are already in drastic decline due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic."

他们补充说，莫里斯的意见“为军团国家许可计划的其他方面的法律挑战设定了明确的机会”。“在这种情况下，原告和其他反对者肯定不会丢失这一事实，一旦他们找到合适的机会，就应该尽快提出挑战。”

律师补充说，尽管将军团设定为重新关注许可计划“最高优先级，但可能至少需要直到2021年才能完成。”

这y note new issues the agency also must consider with the just-revised Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which will limit water bodies subject to federal jurisdiction when it takes effect on June 22.

其他Corps Issues

Meanwhile, another key Corp permitting function is also under fire.

在4月宣传组织特拉华州河流保护网络il 22 filed a complaint in federal district court in New Jersey, claiming the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act and U.S. Clean Air Act when it issued a Section 404 permit under the federal Clean Water Act to allow construction of a new terminal on the Delaware River that will transfer liquefied natural gas from the Marcellus shale region for export abroad.

这environmental group, which has been fighting the facility, claims the Corps did not involve the public in drafting an environmental assessment for the project, failed to provide a record of decision and improperly limited the scope of air emissions to be included in its analysis.

根据兵团相关,在单独行动rs infrastructure issues, the U.S. Government Accountability Office in an April 22 report recommended that the agency set performance measures to assess progress made by its nine "centers of standardization" to ensure use of standard designs for U.S. Army facilities and reduce construction costs. It also recommended setting performance measures to reduce the occurrence of change orders.

GAO also said the management board of the centers needs to boost analysis of information about how frequently centers participate in construction projects and how doing so helps improve project cost and schedule metrics and cuts change orders.