Public Notice
Applicant: Published: December 9, 2025
Kibby Powell Expires: January 8, 2026
United States Secret Service
PN-25-44
Baltimore District
Permit Application No. NAB-2025-60845-M52
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has received an application for a Department of the Army permit pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §1344). The purpose of this public notice is to solicit comments from the public regarding the work described below:
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The project area is an approximately 43-acre forested parcel.
Basic: To construct a defense training facility.
Overall: To construct a defense training facility on United States Secret Service, improve operational readiness, and provide improved safety to the public.
PROPOSED WORK: The applicant requests authorization to construct a defense training facility with associated utilities, roads, and stormwater management. The project would permanently impact 2,357 square feet of emergent nontidal wetlands, 147,033 square feet of forested nontidal wetlands, and 968 linear feet (5,473 square feet) of intermittent streams.
AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION: The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment: The James J. Rowley Training Center Defense Training Facility (“Proposed Project”) was included in the James J. Rowley Training Center 2023 Master Plan Update and was evaluated as part of the Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA) prepared by United States Secret Service in 2023, in accordance with provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act and Department of Homeland Security Directive 023-01. The SEA considered increased student population, construction of new facilities, the renovation of existing facilities, demolition of facilities, and the consolidation of facilities. To avoid or minimize adverse environmental impacts to the extent practicable, United States Secret Service has identified best management practices and mitigation measures in the SEA that would be applied as applicable, for project specific activities to ensure the avoidance of significant impacts on resources and alleviate the need for subsequent review. The SEA resulted in a Finding of No Significant Impact signed in July 2023.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The applicant offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment: The applicant proposes to construct a permittee responsible mitigation site in Fort Washington, Prince George’s County, Maryland to fulfill wetland and stream mitigation requirements.
CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps evaluated the undertaking pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act utilizing its existing program-specific regulations and procedures along with 36 CFR Part 800. The Corps’ program-specific procedures include 33 CFR 325, Appendix C, and revised interim guidance issued in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The District Engineer consulted district files and records and the latest published version of the National Register of Historic Places and initially determines that:
No historic properties (i.e., properties listed in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places) are present within the Corps’ permit area; therefore, there will be no historic properties affected. The Corps subsequently requests concurrence from the State Historic Preservation Office and/or Tribal Historic Preservation Office.
The District Engineer’s final eligibility and effect determination will be based upon coordination with the State Historic Preservation Office and/or Tribal Historic Preservation Office, as appropriate and required, and with full consideration given to the proposed undertaking’s potential direct and indirect effects on historic properties within the Corps-identified permit area.
ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has performed an initial review of the application, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Information for Planning and Consultation to determine if any threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate species, as well as the proposed and final designated critical habitat may occur within the boundary of the proposed project. Based on this initial review, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the proposed project may affect species in Table 1. No other Endangered Species Act-listed species or critical habitat will be affected by the proposed action.
Table 1: Endangered Species Act -listed species and/or critical habitat potentially present in the action area.
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Species Common Name and/or Critical Habitat Name
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Scientific Name
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Federal Status
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Northern Long Eared Bat
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Myotis septentrionalis
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Endangered
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Tricolored Bat
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Perimyotis subflavus
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Proposed Endangered
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Monarch Butterfly
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Danaus Plexippus
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Proposed Threatened
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This notice serves as request to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for any additional information on whether any listed or proposed to be listed endangered or threatened species or critical habitat may be present in the area which would be affected by the proposed activity.
ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT: Pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1996, the Corps reviewed the project area, examined information provided by the applicant, and consulted available species information.
The Corps has determined the proposal would have no effect on any Essential Fish Habitat. The project would impact within nontidal, intermittent streams and nontidal wetlands. Therefore, no consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service on Essential Fish Habitat as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1996 is required.
NAVIGATION: The proposed structure or activity is not located in the vicinity of a federal navigation channel.
SECTION 408: The applicant will not require permission under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 USC 408) because the activity, in whole or in part, would not alter, occupy, or use a Corps Civil Works project.
WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION: Water Quality Certification may be required from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
NOTE: This public notice is being issued based on information furnished by the applicant. This information has not been verified or evaluated to ensure compliance with laws and regulation governing the regulatory program. The geographic extent of aquatic resources within the proposed project area that either are, or are presumed to be, within the Corps jurisdiction has not been verified by Corps personnel.
EVALUATION: The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact including cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest. That decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefits, which reasonably may be expected to accrue from the proposal, must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All factors which may be relevant to the proposal will be considered including cumulative impacts thereof; among these are conservation, economics, esthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historical properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shoreline erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food, and fiber production, mineral needs, considerations of property ownership, and in general, the needs and welfare of the people. Evaluation of the impact of the activity on the public interest will also include application of the guidelines promulgated by the Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, under authority of Section 404(b) of the Clean Water Act or the criteria established under authority of Section 102(a) of the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. A permit will be granted unless its issuance is found to be contrary to the public interest.
COMMENTS: The Corps is soliciting comments from the public; federal, state, and local agencies and officials; Indian Tribes; and other Interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of this proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the Corps to determine whether to issue, modify, condition, or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this determination, comments are used to assess impacts to endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.
The Baltimore District will receive written comments on the proposed work, as outlined above, until January 8, 2026. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Kristen Rigney at kristen.l.rigney@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Attention: Kristen Rigney, 2 Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. Please refer to the permit application number in your comments.
Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider the application. Requests for public hearings shall state, with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing. Requests for a public hearing will be granted, unless the District Engineer determines that the issues raised are insubstantial or there is otherwise no valid interest to be served by a hearing.