33 U.S.C. § 408 - Taking possession of, use of, or injury to harbor or river improvements

• Cite as: 33 U.S.C. § 408

(a) Prohibitions and permissions

It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to take possession of or make use of for any purpose, or build upon, alter, deface, destroy, move, injure, obstruct by fastening vessels thereto or otherwise, or in any manner whatever impair the usefulness of any sea wall, bulkhead, jetty, dike, levee, wharf, pier, or other work built by the United States, or any piece of plant, floating or otherwise, used in the construction of such work under the control of the United States, in whole or in part, for the preservation and improvement of any of its navigable waters or to prevent floods, or as boundary marks, tide gauges, surveying stations, buoys, or other established marks, nor remove for ballast or other purposes any stone or other material composing such works: Provided, That the Secretary of the Army may, on the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers, grant permission for the temporary occupation or use of any of the aforementioned public works when in his judgment such occupation or use will not be injurious to the public interest: Provided further, That the Secretary may, on the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers, grant permission for the alteration or permanent occupation or use of any of the aforementioned public works when in the judgment of the Secretary such occupation or use will not be injurious to the public interest and will not impair the usefulness of such work.

(b) Concurrent review

(1) NEPA review

(A) In general

In any case in which an activity subject to this section requires a review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), review and approval of the activity under this section shall, to the maximum extent practicable, occur concurrently with any review and decisions made under that Act.

(B) Corps of Engineers as a cooperating agency

If the Corps of Engineers is not the lead Federal agency for an environmental review described in subparagraph (A), the Corps of Engineers shall, to the maximum extent practicable and consistent with Federal laws-

(i) participate in the review as a cooperating agency (unless the Corps of Engineers does not intend to submit comments on the project); and

(ii) adopt and use any environmental document prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) by the lead agency to the same extent that a Federal agency could adopt or use a document prepared by another Federal agency under-