The first transportation projects to receive Recovery funds will likely be those relevant to metropolitan Transportation Improvement Programs (TIP) or statewide Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) projects or State DOT projects in coordination with relevant transit agencies. For those of you in the transportation sector I suggest researching these programs to identify relevance to the projects you’re proposing for recovery funding.
NEPA rules must be addressed and emergency action procedures ( see Council on Environmental Quality 40 CFR 1506.11) will not be triggered by the Recovery Act.
As for the Clean Water Act rules, specifically section 404 and 401 requirements, minor projects do not need permits or are already covered under nationwide permits. Also, many states have already established relationships with the Army Corps of Engineers and state environmental agencies to expedite the proecess for recovery funded projects. It’s probably a good idea to identify and highlight proposed funding projects that fall under the minor project category or nationwide permits.
