Pending Mitigation Banking Instruments (MBIs) by U.S. Army Corps District
The National Environmental Banking Association (NEBA) has recently alerted senior government officials and industry that more than two years of persistent regulatory slow-downs and few Mitigation Banking Instrument (MBI) approvals by the U.S. Army Corps Mitigation Program has led to a significant backlog of projects without needed go-aheads to conserve, restore and protect.
This graph displays the 419 Mitigation Banks currently awaiting approval by the Corps/IRTs across the various Districts. Some of these MBI’s have been pending for as much as 10 years. NEBA is aware that some projects are being simply abandoned due to the lack of efficient permit processing.
The National Environmental Banking Association calls on the U.S. Army Corps, its leadership and its personnel to refocus their energies and attention and prioritize approvals of mitigation banks.
A newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report is shining a spotlight on a concern many in the mitigation banking industry have raised for years: inconsistent implementation of the federal compensatory mitigation program across U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts. Under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the Corps requires compensatory mitigation when permitted
Read MoreFor too long, environmental policy debates have been framed around a false and unproductive premise: that economic growth and environmental protection are inherently at odds. This mindset is not only outdated—it is actively harmful to both outcomes. Mitigation banking offers a clear path forward. By design, it aligns economic incentives with ecological restoration, proving that well-functioning
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