Project Permitting
Streamlining through Experience
Navigating the regulatory process to acquire and comply with environmental permits can be a challenging component of marine and freshwater infrastructure projects. We collaborate with our clients to achieve positive results.
Lally LLC has successfully acquired federal, state and municipal permits for our clients’ projects through comprehensive understanding of environmental conditions and stakeholder requirements, and innovative designs and construction methods to optimize project performance. Responsive communications with regulatory agencies, proficiency with Nature-based solutions, and global contractor know-how working in varied marine environments, have also served to successfully streamline permitting on our clients’ projects.
From our offices in North America, Europe and the Caribbean, Lally LLC can provide the following permitting services for freshwater, coastal and offshore projects;
- Regulatory Scoping and Strategy
- Permit Applications and Drawings
- Biological Evaluations
- Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA, EIS)
- Stakeholder Engagement and Communications
- Regulatory Agency Negotiations
- Formulate Mitigation Agreements
- Formulate Monitoring Programs
- Dredged Material Management Unit Design and Suitability Determinations
- Turbidity, TSS, and Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring
- Plume and Sedimentation Monitoring
- Fish and Habitat Monitoring
- Scientific Collection Permits
- Marine Mammal Monitoring
- Sound Monitoring
- Seine Surveys and Fish Counts
- Pre-, Progress- and Post-Dredge Surveys
- Post-Construction Monitoring
- Project Reporting
- Section 10/404 Rivers and Harbor Act and Clean Water Act
- Section 401 Water Quality Certification
- Section 7 Endangered Species Act
- Nationwide and Regional General Permits
- Superfund (CERCLA)
- Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA)
- National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
- USEPA Ocean Dumping Act (MPRSA)
Lally LLC has experience consulting and working with numerous regulatory authorities for the acquisition and administration of project permits in the marine environment and maintains good long-term relationships with these agencies.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA)
- National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS)
- State Fish and Wildlife Agencies
- State Departments of Ecology and Environmental Conservation
- State Departments of Environmental Protection
- City and Town Building Departments
- County and City Shoreline Master Programs
- Tribes and First Nations
- CARICOM Ministries of the Environment
- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), formerly U.S. Minerals Management Service (USMMS)
- Port Authorities and River Pilots
- Coastal Protection and Restoration Authorities
Freshwater, coastal and offshore infrastructure projects require thorough research and preparation in order to acquire necessary permits. Incomplete consideration of environmental conditions and construction impacts can lead to substantial slowing of the approval process and project delivery, and in some cases denial of permits altogether.
Multiple permit and approvals are often required from federal, state, municipal agencies and key stakeholders. To bring clarity to the permitting process, Lally LLC offers broad knowledge on the physical and environmental parameters important to projects proposed in sensitive marine environments.
We effectively communicate with agencies during the pre-application phase to align expectations, acquire an understanding of stakeholder requirements and interests, and prepare clear and comprehensive permit application packages for agency review. As needed, our CAD, GIS and 3D visualization capabilities, well-regarded by agencies, can produce drawings and infographics to convey complex project information in straightforward terms.
Serving as the Owner’s agent Lally LLC can provide the following services during the permit application phases;
- Pre-Application Agency Consultations
- Permit Application Narratives and Calculations
- Permit Drawings
- Conceptual Site Models
- Agency Communications
- Meetings and Site Inspections
We have further provided Site Characterization and Report Preparation services when needed, including;
- Topographic & Bathymetric Surveys
- Hardbottom and Seagrass Mapping
- Geotechnical Sampling and Analysis
- Chemical Sampling and Analysis
- Suitability Determinations
- Geostatistical Interpolation (i.e. Kriging)
- Dredge Management Area Delineations
- MetOcean Data Collection
- Wave Modeling
- Shoreline Change Analysis
- Borrow Source – Beach Habitat Compatibility Analysis
- Vegetation Analyses
On more complex sites or projects in sensitive environments which have the possibility of impacting regional endangered or threatened species, regulatory authorities like NOAA – National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Environmental Protections Agency require detailed Biological Evaluations, or Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA or EIS), be undertaken by the project proponent as part of the permit review process.
Lally LLC has experience completing Biological Evaluations and successful consultations with the Services resulting in federal permit approvals with reasonable stipulations allowing projects to proceed.
In addition to specifying construction windows and environmental monitoring for the protection of endangered or threatened species, permit approvals on federal and state levels also often include stipulations for compensatory mitigation measures to offset project impacts.
On many of our projects we incorporate Nature-based engineering solutions i.e. habitat enhancements, into the design that serve as mitigation for the project. In other cases, we institute environmental controls, develop monitoring plans, and streamlined construction processes through intelligent technology and/or approaches that protect the environment during construction operations.
In all these efforts, Lally LLC engineers and biologists work proficiently with agency and stakeholder representatives to develop pragmatic mitigation measures in order to best serve the needs of the project and the environment.
