Category — Policy

See additional coverage at Storm Water Solutions

Army Corps and EPA Improve Wetland and Stream Mitigation

(Washington, D.C. - March 31, 2008) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today released a new rule to clarify how to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to the nation’s wetlands and streams. The rule will enable the agencies to promote greater consistency, predictability and ecological success of mitigation projects under the Clean Water Act.

“This rule greatly improves implementation, monitoring, and performance, and will help us ensure that unavoidable losses of aquatic resources and functions are replaced for the benefit of this Nation. This is a key step in our efforts to make the Army’s Regulatory Program a winner, and the best it can be for the regulated community we serve and those interested in both economic development and environmental protection,” said John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.

“This rule advances the president’s goals of halting overall loss of wetlands and improving watershed health through sound science, market-based approaches, and cooperative conservation,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin H. Grumbles. “The new standards will accelerate our wetlands conservation efforts under the Clean Water Act by establishing more effective, more consistent, and more innovative mitigation practices.”

Benefits of the compensatory mitigation rule include:

• Fostering greater predictability, increased transparency and improved performance of compensatory mitigation projects
• Establishing equivalent standards for all forms of mitigation
• Responding to recommendations of the National Research Council to improve the success of wetland restoration and replacement projects
• Setting clear science-based and results-oriented standards nationwide while allowing for regional variations
• Increasing and expanding public participation
• Encouraging watershed-based decisions
• Emphasizing the “mitigation sequence” requiring that proposed projects avoid and minimize potential impacts to wetlands and streams before proceeding to compensatory mitigation

Each year thousands of property owners undertake projects that affect the nation’s aquatic resources. Proposed projects that are determined to impact jurisdictional waters are first subject to review under the Clean Water Act. The Corps of Engineers reviews these projects to ensure environmental impacts to aquatic resources are avoided or minimized as much as possible. Consistent with the administration’s goal of “no net loss of wetlands” a Corps permit may require a property owner to restore, establish, enhance or preserve other aquatic resources in order to replace those impacted by the proposed project. This compensatory mitigation process seeks to replace the loss of existing aquatic resource functions and area.

Property owners required to complete mitigation are encouraged to use a watershed approach and watershed planning information. The new rule establishes performance standards, sets timeframes for decision making, and to the extent possible, establishes equivalent requirements and standards for the three sources of compensatory mitigation: permittee-responsible mitigation, mitigation banks and in-lieu-fee programs.

The new rule changes where and how mitigation is to be completed, but maintains existing requirements on when mitigation is required. The rule also preserves the requirement for applicants to avoid or minimize impacts to aquatic resources before proposing compensatory mitigation projects to offset permitted impacts.

Wetlands and streams provide important environmental functions including protecting and improving water quality and providing habitat to fish and wildlife. Successful compensatory mitigation projects will replace environmental functions that are lost as a result of permitted activities.

________________________________________________

Contact Information: Corps of Engineers - Gene Pawlik, (202) 761-7690 / eugene.a.pawlik@usace.army.mil or Doug Garman, (202) 761-1807 / doug.m.garman@usace.army.mil; EPA - Shakeba Carter-Jenkins, (202) 564-4355 / carter-jenkins.shakeba@epa.gov

The “Balancing Water Quality and Smart Growth Goals Toolkit” CD-ROM is a compilation of valuable resources and ideas, including a new webcast called Protecting Water Quality While Meeting Smart Growth Goals. The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) has brought these resources together to help local government managers and planning and environmental professionals determine how they can connect their efforts to reach important community goals. On LGEAN Site

The CD-ROM toolkit includes more than 50 resources, including webcasts, presentations, fact sheets, publications, case studies, and Web links to online resource collections and news articles and sources. To download toolkit’s content list, click the “For more information” link below.

To order your free copy of the CD-ROM, send a request by email to lgean@icma.org. Be sure to include your name, mailing address, and phone number. Please reference the “Balancing Water Quality and Smart Growth Toolkit” in your subject line.

For more information Contact: lgean@icma.org

What’s New keeps local government officials abreast of current environmental funding opportunities, federal policy updates, important legislative activities, new reports and publications, and other available tools and resources.

January 2007 KVHA Triplet Newsletter

This newsletter is actually three individual program newsletters merged together for a start of the year SHA-BANG! “The Watershed” is the general newsletter for the Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance. “Dragonfly Messenger” is the newsletter for the Kansas StreamLink Program. “The Wakarusa Review” is the newsletter for the Wakarusa (River) Watershed Restoration & Protection Program. Articles range from program updates to indepth issue pieces.

Newsletter on SCRIBD.org