Please provide feedback by the end of July 26, 2019
In recent Unified Agendas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have indicated their intention to review and amend the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule. AGC supports this effort, because challenges in implementing the Mitigation Rule can further complicate and delay the permitting process for infrastructure projects. AGC is compiling industry concerns with the Mitigation Rule for the agencies to consider while they prepare a proposal to amend the rule. Ultimately, AGC seeks to streamline the review process for approving new mitigation banks and in-lieu fee programs -- leading to greater availability of credits for infrastructure projects.
Specifically, AGC is looking to expand its “Mitigation: Challenges and Opportunities” document with greater input to the agencies in the areas immediately below. Your input would be greatly appreciated. Please reply with feedback by the end of July 26, 2019, to tomainom@agc.org.
- Are there general administrative changes that could improve the mitigation bank and in-lieu fee program review process?
- Should the Interagency Review Team process for new banks be eliminated or modified? (Note that there is also a public review process within which the agencies could comment.)
- Are there changes that could clarify and facilitate multipurpose compensation projects?
- Are there approaches to quantify stream mitigation credits that better reflect the total amount of stream ecosystem restored, enhanced, or preserved in rivers and larger streams, and stream-wetland complexes, while maximizing available credits and opportunities for larger compensatory mitigation projects within a given watershed?
AGC will provide the “Mitigation: Challenges and Opportunities” document – updated with your feedback -- to the agencies for consideration as they begin the process of amending the 2008 Mitigation Rule.
About the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule
EPA provides several online fact sheets about the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule. In brief, the rule provides requirements on how to meet mitigation obligations under the Clean Water Act Section 404 for a project’s wetlands/dredge-and-fill permitting and approvals. It also lays out process requirements for new mitigation banks and in-lieu fee programs. Streamlining the rule could improve the speed with which new banks and in-lieu fee programs are approved, thereby increasing the availability of mitigation credits to offset project impacts.
For more information, contact Melinda Tomaino at tomainom@agc.org.