U.S. Regulatory Leaders told Trout Headwaters and other stakeholders that they are focused on rule-making, policies, and implementation efforts to improve efficiency for permitting Mitigation Banks during a policy round-table held last week in Louisville.

Jennifer Moyer, Chief of the Regulatory Program for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) said that the Corps is currently reviewing ideas and ‘tweaks’ to the 2008 Mitigation Rule to enable more timely review and approvals for Mitigation Banking Instruments.

Chief Russ Kaiser from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) committed to continuing to insure its partnerships with the other agencies, including USACE more effectively streamline environmental projects. He explained that from his view ‘cooperation is key to an effective program’ and said that USEPA needs to continue to be engaged early in the banking process.

Moyer enumerated that her agency processes some 80,000 permits and actions annually with about 10% requiring mitigation. She explained that project permits requiring mitigation are processed 50% faster when the project proponent uses mitigation credits from a mitigation bank or equivalent in-lieu fee. She noted that while there are 38 Corps Districts with discretion across the U.S., it is also important to ‘make sure that the Districts see themselves as part of a single federal regulatory program.’  >Learn More