American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Environmental Permitting
DEQ is administering approximately $1.9 billion in ARPA funds for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater projects, in addition to issuing the environmental permits required for many of these projects. The timely permitting of an ARPA project is critically important to the project's successful completion by the current federal deadline of December 31, 2026.
To ensure successful ARPA project completion, DEQ is committed to providing fund recipients with effective and efficient environmental permitting services. DEQ will deliver on this commitment through our permitting assistance programs and enhanced environmental permit tracking for ARPA-funded projects.
DEQ is tracking ARPA projects through the DEQ permitting phase of each project. Our goal is to ensure permits are moving through the review and issuance phase efficiently. For ARPA projects, the Department is implementing enhanced permit tracking to help ensure successful project completion. To assist DEQ with this process, please denote on each DEQ permit application that the project is an ARPA funded project.
DEQ is tracking ARPA project permits in two phases. Phase I tracks the projected permit application type and submittal time. Phase I is now active as described below. Phase II will track the project’s permit health based on permit processing timeframes, from submittal to issuance. Phase II is currently under development, please check back soon.
Phase I: Projected Permit Application Submittal for ARPA Projects
ARPA fund recipients were asked the types of DEQ permits needed for their project and the projected permit application submittal date. The dashboard below displays the results of the survey. The projected permit application submittal data allows DEQ to track permitting progress. Additionally, identifying ARPA permits ensures DEQ can apply ARPA-funded staffing resources to ARPA permit processing. Clearly identifying your permit application as an ARPA project permit will allow DEQ to process your permit application more efficiently.
If you are an ARPA fund recipient or project manager, please review the responses for your ARPA project in the scrollable window below the bar graph. If you have changes in your project’s permit application submittal timeline, need additional permits, etc., please contact our Office of Continuous Improvement staff at Taylor.Ezell@deq.nc.gov or Landon.Davidson@deq.nc.gov.
Permitting assistance is available from subject matter experts (SME) within the specific agency issuing the permit. These SMEs are typically used when the permit type is known or is related to a complex permitting action (e.g., new NPDES permit). Alternatively, and often used when all permit types have not yet been identified, DEQ offers a permit scoping service for projects. The Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service (DEACS) offers a range of services including permit scoping of new projects.