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PA FINAL MITIGATION BANKING POLICY RELEASED

Release Date: 12/4/95
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PA FINAL MITIGATION BANKING POLICY RELEASED

FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1995

FINAL MITIGATION BANKING POLICY RELEASED

EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service are issuing final policy guidance for the establishment, use and operation of wetland mitigation banks. Wetland mitigation banks are an innovative way for landowners to effectively and efficiently compensate for wetland losses authorized under the federal wetland programs. The federal policy is intended to encourage the establishment and use of mitigation banks. The Clinton Administration's August 1993 plan for protecting the nation's wetlands endorsed the use of mitigation banks as a way to streamline and provide greater predictability within the federal wetlands programs, while at the same time increasing the environmental effectiveness of the programs. Mitigation banks are established when a public or private entity restores or creates wetlands or, in exceptional circumstances, preserves existing wetlands for the purpose of providing mitigation to offset wetland losses in advance of development actions which are authorized under the Clean Water Act Section 404 permit program or the wetland conversion provisions of the Farm Bill (also known as the Swampbuster program). Mitigation banks typically involve the consolidation of small, fragmented wetland mitigation projects into one large contiguous site that is more beneficial to the environment. Units of restored, created or preserved wetlands are expressed as "credits" which may be subsequently withdrawn to offset wetland losses incurred at the project development site. Copies of the final guidelines can be obtained by calling the EPA Wetlands Hotline at 1-800-832-7828.

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