# Project Boar CWA 401 Pre-File and Application The **Project Boar water-quality file** — [[Willowbend Capital, LLC]]'s Clean Water Act § 401 track at DEQ for the Port of Little Rock site. Files: `HQK-8PR3-3Q7SF-v1-COR-v1.pdf` and `…-SIGNATURE_PAGE.pdf` (the pre-file meeting request, signed 2026-02-10), `HQK-JXSH-EBZ8H-v2-SUBMISSION.pdf` (the Individual 401 certification application, v2 of 2026-03-16), `Fw_ HQK-8PR3-3Q7SF Project Boar.pdf` and `Fw_ RE_ HQK-8PR3-3Q7SF Project Boar.pdf` (DEQ↔consultant emails, Feb–June 2026), and `Boar Environmental Impact Exhibit_corrected-v2.pdf` (the impact site plan, 2025-03-18, "ALTERNATIVE B (LEDPA)"). ## Key takeaways 1. **The first state environmental-permit footprint for Project Boar.** The 2026-06-08 SEEK/PDS sweep found no Boar facility; this correspondence shows why — the Boar activity to date runs through the § 401/404 water-quality track, not air or stormwater. Submission IDs: pre-file **HQK-8PR3-3Q7SF** (2/10/2026), application **HQK-JXSH-EBZ8H** (v1 ~Feb; Revision 1 2/23/2026; Revision 2 3/16/2026, both revisions by Caleb Gourley). 2. **Willowbend certified operational control.** The 401 application answers **Yes** to: "Does the Applicant (Legal Name) listed above have the primary management and ultimate decision-making responsibility over the operation of the activity?" (`HQK-JXSH-EBZ8H-v2-SUBMISSION.pdf`, p. 1). [[Michael Montfort]] signs — titled **"Counsel"** on the February pre-file, **"Manager"** on the March application — from 1700 K St NW, Washington DC (the [[Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati]] address), 202-973-8815. 3. **The impacts are quantified.** "The project as designed will impact all or portions of three wetland areas… totaling **15.10 acres**" of jurisdictional wetlands plus 1.70 ac non-jurisdictional; "approximately 137 linear feet of intermittent Drain 2 and 3,368 linear feet of intermittent Drain 3, totaling **3,505 linear feet**" plus 2,914 lf of ephemeral drains; a **124.5 acre-foot central detention basin** with 96-inch and 48-inch outfalls; ultimate receiving stream the **Arkansas River**; **369 disturbed acres**; project duration "**Up to 8 years**" (`HQK-JXSH-EBZ8H-v2`, pp. 2–3). The site exhibit (Job 20240769) tallies on-site totals: 36.66 ac potentially jurisdictional wetland, 6,915 lf potentially jurisdictional drain. 4. **An Individual § 404 permit exists: SWL-2026-00038** (USACE Little Rock District; contact Michael Gala), listed alongside a "Phase I Cultural Resources Management Study" and "Wetland Delineation and Limited T&E Species Review" (p. 4). DEQ waived the pre-file meeting requirement. 5. **The project is described to water regulators only as a "light industrial complex"** — "Construction activities to include the construction of a **light industrial complex**, fill of wetland features, installation of culverts, and development of stormwater detention ponds" (p. 3). The phrase "data center" appears nowhere in the Boar filings, in contrast to Pyramid's USACE notice ("data center campus"; see [[Project Pyramid USACE Public Notice and Water Quality Track]]) and to the City's own Resolution 16,671 record. The exhibit nonetheless shows a **SUBSTATION** block and the "LEDPA" (least environmentally damaging practicable alternative) § 404 vocabulary. 6. **Status as of the production**: Jim Wise (DEQ Ecologist Supervisor, Water Quality) completed pre-file review 2/12/2026 and invited the application; on **2026-06-10** — the day before the FOIA production — Harbor's Thomas Huetter sent Wise the corrected impact exhibit and handed project management to Caleb Gourley. No 401 decision document is in the production. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Michael Montfort]] (Counsel → Manager, Willowbend); [[Jim Wise]] (DEQ); [[Harbor Environmental]] / Terracon (Thomas Huetter, P.G.; Caleb Gourley); [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] (Michael Gala); [[Willowbend Capital, LLC]]. ## Concepts invoked - CWA § 401 water-quality certification; § 404 Individual Permit (vs [[Nationwide Permit]]); LEDPA. ## Cross-references - [[The Port of Little Rock Data Center]] — the synthesis page for the Boar site; this production supplies its first DEQ-channel records. - [[T003 - Shell-LLC Principal Attribution for Forgelight and Willowbend]] — the operational-control certification and the "light industrial complex" framing are new inputs; no principal named, status unchanged. - [[Stuart C Hindmarsh]] — not on these filings (Montfort/Harbor only); compare his closing-side roles. ## Open questions / follow-ups - The § 404 permit file (SWL-2026-00038) and any public notice for it — a USACE Little Rock District records request would capture the application narrative, alternatives analysis, and mitigation plan. - The 401 decision (issued? conditioned?) and any STAA for in-stream work ("STAA Required… Enter STAA e-Portal submission ID: N/A"). - Whether 15.10 ac of permanent wetland fill triggers compensatory mitigation for Boar comparable to Pyramid's 3:1 PRM — not stated in the produced forms.