August 21, 2019

Agencies Focus on Permitting Efficiency

Compliance, Habitats, Industry News, Policy, Streams, Wetlands

The National Mitigation & Ecosystem Banking Conference capped its events in Sacramento, CA with a roundtable of regulatory leaders representing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and others. Jennifer Moyer, Chief of Regulatory for the Corps reflected on her agency's relationship with USEPA and the importance of what she described as their "partnership."  She talked about the growing need for interagency cooperation against a background of various efforts focused on permitting reform.  "We must recognize the environment we're all in now," she said. "The Corps is committed to continuing to work to make the mitigation process even more efficient." Russ Kaiser from USEPA described advances in agency training and the advance of district level Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for teams working on mitigation banking agreements and stressed the importance of increasing consistency for implementation of the 2008 Mitigation Rule.   Craig Aubrey from USFWS discussed the work of the Service in tracking various Executive Orders including SO3349  He said his agency is looking at how best to improve and streamline regulatory review, referencing the Corps' Nationwide Permit process as a model.  More on NMEBC via http://mitigationbankingconference.com 

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