The Wetlands Impact Tracker follows the development of federal permitting under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The USACE evaluates permit applications for work in Waters of the United States. Similar to other dashboards on the Climate Program Portal, the Wetlands Impact Tracker makes accessible to a broad audience valuable data from key federal programs related to climate change.

The Wetlands Impact Tracker compiles public notices of individual permit applications, typically stored in PDFs. These permits are issued for activities that have more than minimal adverse impacts to Waters of the United States and are also known as 404 permits, in reference to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Notices found in this tool do not cover General, Programmatic, or Regional permits. The data pulled from these notices can help users better understand the impacts of proposed development and restoration projects by revealing and summarizing notices. This aggregated information can be utilized for advocacy work, public comments on proposed projects, cumulative impact analysis, and more. The dashboard also contains information compiled from final permits issued for projects, where available. We encourage you to use this tool to explore and better understand how development projects are impacting the communities you work with and live in.

Methodology

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) evaluates permit applications for certain projects impacting wetlands, navigable waters, and sensitive areas. A public notice is prepared as the primary method of advising all interested parties about the proposed activity for which the permit is sought for. The notice is issued by USACE within 15 days of the receipt of a complete permit application to solicit comments from the public, local agencies and organizations, and other interested groups or individuals who may be impacted by the proposed projects. Comments and information collected are used to evaluate the probable benefits and negative impacts.

This tracker uses large language models (LLMs) to automatically pull structured data out of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public notices, which are usually only available as PDFs. The extraction is end-to-end automated — the model identifies Section 404 Clean Water Act notices by keyword, then parses their text to capture applicant details, project information, locations, wetland impacts, and mitigation. The dashboard shows only Section 404 notices that meet these criteria. This data processing improves access to vital information and enables analyses on the cumulative impact of these notices and their proposed projects. The Tracker also surfaces information gathered from final permits issued to projects, where available. Information that has been extracted using AI is highlighted and extra care should be given by the user to validate this data before using it in any analysis or publication.

The Wetlands Impact Tracker is a collaborative effort between Atlas Public Policy and Environmental Policy Innovation Center. Efforts include data collection, processing, analysis, outreach, dashboarding, and ongoing maintenance.

The initial launch of the Tracker in January 2024 was supported by Healthy Gulf, and the Environmental Impact Data Collaborative at Georgetown University’s Massive Data Institute at the McCourt School of Public Policy

The current version of the Tracker includes Section 404 public notices from the following U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts: Alaska, Baltimore, Buffalo, Caribbean, Charleston, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Worth, Galveston, Huntington, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Mobile, Nashville, New England, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Rock Island, Sacramento, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, St. Paul, Walla Walla, and Wilmington. In addition to states, some of the notices tracked also exist in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each district has its own website where it publishes the public notices. Data is currently available for all districts dating back to 2012, depending on the information that has been made publicly available on each district’s website. The dashboard contains two tabs: Overview and Cumulative Impacts. Navigation between the two tabs is controlled by the two buttons on top of the dashboard. The entire dashboard is interactive, and users are encouraged to click around to explore and better understand the data. Clicking on different parts of the charts and maps will filter the dashboard accordingly. For example, clicking on the notice category “Marina” will filter the Key Metrics and highlighted dots on the interactive map to display only facilities and data tied to facilities classified as “Marina”.

The data presented on the Tracker can be filtered in many ways. Each page has a pre-selected number of on-page filters that users can adjust (i.e. Date Published on the Overview tab). There is also a yellow filter bar on the right side of the dashboard containing additional filters to help users find an exact data point. Users can apply one or many filters at the same time by expanding the pane, setting the desired filter, and clicking “Apply filter.”

The data behind these charts and maps can be exported by clicking on the three horizontal dots at the top right of the data visual, clicking “Export data,” and clicking the green “Export” button.

This Tracker was created with those who live and work in affected communities in mind. Historically, advocates and organizations who wanted to understand how projects develop in their communities could only acquire that information by manually combing through USACE district websites and fragmented PDF documentation and FOIAing the district for information on permits issued to projects. This dashboard addresses those issues by allowing users to more easily find the information they need:

  • Users can search through public notices matching various criteria they select (e.g., open vs. closed for comment, oil and gas or port construction, geographic location, etc.) and better locate the information they need.
  • The information gathered by the Tracker is also suitable for users who want to provide public comments on proposed projects, raise awareness about developments in their communities, learn about where restoration funding is going, and much more.
  • Additional information from final permits issued for projects after the notice and application period end is also surfaced for users to understand what has happened to proposed projects.
  • Exploring and interacting with this dashboard can likewise reveal trends in proposed projects that might not otherwise be obvious without the use of the maps and visuals provided. Every piece of the dashboard has been designed for download and analysis to better meet users’ particular needs in this evolving landscape.

A secondary goal of this project is to increase transparency of the public notice and permitting process (i.e., between USACE and the public), and to advocate for better data standards when it comes to federal permitting agencies. We believe that with more visibility in this space—and better use of this data to drive policy conversations around protections against harmful development projects—the more likely it is that agencies will improve their permitting processes and documentation.

What is the scope of the data collected here?

Public notices are pulled directly from USACE web pages (RSS feed) and the accompanying documentation for each of the districts covered. Each district has its own webpage where it publishes notices for public view. The current iteration of the Tracker includes the following USACE districts: Alaska, Baltimore, Buffalo, Caribbean, Charleston, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Worth, Galveston, Huntington, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Mobile, Nashville, New England, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Rock Island, Sacramento, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, St. Paul, Walla Walla, and Wilmington. Data is scraped from the first publicly available notice, beginning in 2012 through present day. Final permit information has been collected from data returned through a freedom of information act (FOIA) request of USACE for data the ORM system, the database where finalized permits are maintained. 

How often is the data updated?

Automated software checks for new permits once a day. Each check looks at the past 20 days of permits and pulls newly found notices into the dashboard. Final permit data will not be regularly updated, but additional data will be provided in the event of new FOIA requests.

What are the data sources?

The base of all public notice data is sourced directly from USACE districts’ public notice pages and PDFs, or accessed via the USACE Regulatory Request Public Notice page. Most of the data is pulled from USACE documents using regular expressions (regex), a sequence of numbers and letters that specifies a match pattern in text, to match words that follow defined patterns. Some highlighted fields may contain AI generated language not found precisely in the original documents. Because all notices and texts do not follow an identical template, rigid formula-based approaches like regex fail. Using LLMs to process the text allows users to summarize and extract information without reading the text. Applying AI here allows users to extract information from texts that do not follow explicit patterns and identify notices more easily by generating summaries and flagging notices by categories. LLMs made available by OpenAI and Microsoft Azure are used for this purpose. Population metrics are sourced from the American Community Survey (2019-2023) 5-Year at the Census Block Group level.

Final permit data is sourced from a CSV-based file returned from USACE after a FOIA request. This data is matched to existing public notices using project-level ID information, where available, to identify projects that received a final permit.

Note On Data Accuracy

A sample of collected data has been tested for accuracy by the project team. However, not all data has been validated given the large quantity of projects available. Users of this dashboard should validate all data they intend to use in any analysis. If you find discrepancies between the dashboard and the original USACE documents, please reach out to us at [email protected] or fill out the form at the bottom of the Overview page to report a project-specific or general error.

At the top of the Dashboard, there are four Key Metrics.

Notices Tracked: The number of notices being tracked by the dashboard.

Open for Comment: The number of notices open for public comment, in real-time.

Earliest Comment Period End: The date in which the notice, or notices, with the earliest comment period ends. This metric helps users understand which public notices may be most urgent to comment on as the comment period reaches the date of expiration.

Industry Related: The number of notices relating to projects that have been categorized as industrial developments. This category includes manufacturing facilities, data centers and industrial parks. Projects may be assigned to multiple categories.

Public Notice

A Public Notice is prepared as the primary method of advising all interested parties of a proposed activity for which a permit is sought. It also serves the purpose of soliciting public comments and providing information necessary to evaluate the probable beneficial and detrimental impacts on the public interest, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Public notices are only prepared for projects determined to exceed minimal individual or cumulative adverse environmental effects and that may be contrary to the public interest.

Permit Application Number

Alphanumeric identifier assigned to an individual notice, including the shorthand for the name of the district (i.e. Galveston is SWG).

Date Published

The date when a notice was made publicly available on a USACE district website. Date format is mm/dd/yyyy.

Comment Period Status

A tracked notice will indicate whether it’s open for public or comment or not. Normally, each notice is granted 15-30 days for public comment once it is published by USACE. After the public comment period elapses, the dashboard will indicate it is no longer open.

Expiry Date

The date when a notice’s comment period ends. Date format is mm/dd/yyyy.

Notice Category

An AI generated categorization assigned to a project notice using descriptors of the project that have been classified using an LLM. Notice categories are based on this guide published by the Louisiana Office of Coastal Management: Commercial developments, Drainage features, Environmental, Industrial developments, Landfill, Land reclamation and shoreline stabilization, Levee, Marina, Oil and gas, Ports, Recreation facilities, Residential subdivisions, Restoration, Transportation, Utility, Wetland Mitigation, or Other.

Notice Location

Each public notice filed lists the city, county, and state in which the proposed project will be located. In addition to this, latitude and longitude data is also extracted from the notices, which are used to geocode them to provide state, city, county and the 8-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC-8) of the location. This dashboard utilizes the latitude and longitude provided to map public notice locations to a single point. Although some notices provide multiple location points, the Tracker avoids calculating polygon-based location information for consistency across districts.

Potential Species Impacted

A list of any species mentioned in a public notice that may be impacted by the proposed work in the project.

Wetland Type

A categorization of the wetland or waterway where a project is or will be located. This is an LLM-generated field. Types include: Artificial structure, Bog/fen/peatland, Emergent wetland/marsh, Forested wetland, Mangrove wetland, Open water (lake/pond), Reef (oyster/artificial), River/stream/creek, Scrub-shrub wetland, Subtidal waterbottom/SAV, Tidal shoreline/mudflat/beach, and Other/upland/unknown.

Classified as a Loss

Represents the total anticipated acres of wetlands or waterways, identified by AI, as containing “restoration” activities from the proposed project. Each extracted “restoration” value reflects an individual project restoration estimate.

Classified as Restoration

Represents the total anticipated acres of wetlands or waterways, identified by AI, as containing “restoration” activities from the proposed project. Each extracted “restoration” value reflects an individual project restoration estimate.

Permit Number

Alphanumeric identifier assigned to an individual notice, including the shorthand for the name of the district (i.e. Galveston is SWG). Used to match a record of a final permit with a public notice.

Permit Authority
The section of federal law under which the permit is issued (e.g., Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act).

Permit End Date
Date on which the assigned permit expires. Date format is mm/dd/yyyy.

Action Type
Type of action or permit — e.g., Standard Permit (SP), Letter of Permission (LOP), Nationwide Permit (NWP), Regional General Permit (RGP), or Programmatic General Permit (PGP).

Wetland Type

The higher-level category of aquatic resource impacted or mitigated. Types include: Harbor/Ocean, Lake, Non-tidal wetland, Pond, River/Stream, Tidal wetland, and Other.

Mitigation Type
The type of compensatory mitigation, such as a Mitigation Bank, In-Lieu Fee, or Permittee Responsible Mitigation.

Project Summary

An AI generated summary of the project notice or scope of work proposed in a public notice using the select sections of publicly available documentation. It includes information about the project, parties involved, impacts to wetlands and other water bodies or land types, and other relevant details. Users should not look at the project summary as all encompassing and should instead read the documentation provided by USACE for project details.

USACE District

The name of the district where a public notice, and associated project, is from. The first three letters of a USACE district are used to identify which district is associated with a notice or permit (e.g., “SWG” for Galveston).

Character of Work/Proposed Work

Directly pulled from the project notice documentation. A summarized description of the project proposal, usually including the scope of work, any impacts on land and bodies of water, and materials for any construction.

Planned Mitigation

Directly pulled from the project notice documentation. Proposed efforts to mitigate or minimize any negative impacts on the land or bodies of water within the scope of the project.

Impacted Area (Quantity and Unit)

For each project, the dashboard provides the sum of the total impacted area in acres, cubic yards, feet, miles, square feet, percent, or as ‘other’. The impacted area is provided for both the public notice and final permit issued, where available. This data field uses an LLM to extract the quantity of area impacted from text in the public notice documentation, and relies on csv-based tabular data to extract the quantity of area impacted in the final permit issued. Original units are reported without any conversion. Impacted area is also classified as a loss or restoration (gain) based on information gathered in the notice and final permit documentation using an LLM.

Impact Type

The classification of impact associated with a project notice. Impact type includes several categories such as dredging, construction, restoration, among others. Each permit can be tagged to multiple impact types. This field is extracted using a LLM.

Project Type

An AI generated categorization of the type of project

Watershed (HUC 8)

The hydrologic unit code (HUC) delineates the watershed where a project is located in. This system is produced by the U.S. Geological Survey agency based on surface hydrologic features. The United States can be divided into multiple levels of watershed classifications from 2- to 12-digit codes. The system used in the Tracker is based on the HUC 8 level, which divides the country into approximately 2,400 subbasins.

Company/Applicant Name

The name of the company, organization, or individual applying for a permit with USACE. This information is extracted using AI.

Project Manager Details

The assigned project manager for that notice. Includes details such as the name of the company/organization/individual, email, and phone number.

Median Household Income

The median household income where the project notice is located. This statistic is also provided in conjunction with the national average for comparative purposes.

Population Under Poverty Line

The percent of population with an income under 200 percent of the poverty line where the project notice is located. This statistic is also provided in conjunction with the national average for comparative purposes.

Other Population Metrics

Data is also provided, at the Census Block Group level, describing the total population and break down by race. All race descriptors use the definitions provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Why was the Tracker created?

The developers behind this project hope to increase data access and transparency when it comes to wetlands impacts, industrial projects, and other land developments under the U.S. Army Corps’ jurisdiction. The data pulled from these notices and permits can help users better understand the potential impacts of development projects on sensitive areas by revealing and summarizing individual projects and aggregating valuable data. Empowered with a clearer picture of the current landscape, users can produce better outcomes for the communities impacted.

How often is data updated and how will I know when there’s been an update?

Automated software checks for new projects once a day. Each check looks at the past 20 days of projects and pulls newly found notices into the dashboard. New notices will appear on the top of the table on the Overview tab of the dashboard. The user can also use the ‘Date Published’ filter to choose a recent date window to see recently released notices. Final permit data covers a time range from 2015 to 2023.

Can I share this data?

The data on the Wetlands Impact Tracker is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. In a nutshell, users are free to share, create, and adapt the data from the dashboard as long as users attribute any public use of the data to the Wetlands Impact Tracker. If users have questions, please get in touch: [email protected]

What if I have feedback on the data?

We welcome feedback! If you have additional thoughts to share with us on the dashboard or the scope of the project, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch: [email protected]

What if I see an error on the dashboard?

We strive to keep the dashboard up to date and accurate. However, if you see an inaccuracy or have questions about the data, please get in touch. If you notice a project-specific error, or general error on the dashboard, please fill out the feedback form located at the bottom of the Overview tab or here.

What’s next for the Tracker?

We will continue to build out the Tracker, as well as expand to other districts. We welcome input on data we should be tracking.

Want to access the data?

This dashboard’s entire code repository has been made available for public access here: