Mitigation Bank Permitting – Roadblocked

The mitigation banking industry has recently been advised that Mitigation Banking Instruments (MBI’s) are not permits. But regardless as permit, authorization, or contract, the U.S. Army Corps Mitigation Banking program appears by all data to have entered a period of significant regulatory slow-down or stoppage.

According to the latest data, mitigation bank activity, applications and bank approvals have each dropped precipitously since 2020.

Fewer approvals year after year now has led to a significantly increased backlog of pending MBI’s across the U.S., with more than 400 applications currently pending as of July 2023. Some pending banks appear to have in process for more than a decade.

We have heard some ‘spin’ recently that Mitigation Banks are too difficult or time-consuming to permit. This apparently to justify programmatic slow-downs or to promote lower-quality forms of mitigation. Strangely MBI’s did not appear to be too complex or too time-consuming in Years 2008 through 2020, by the number of banks approved in that period – or at least it wasn’t being used as an excuse for regulatory delay and inefficiency.

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 and release of mitigation bank credits.