National Environmental Banking Association (NEBA) Chairwoman Donna Collier recently addressed a room full of wetlands opinion leaders in person in Washington, DC, as the discussion was also broadcast online as part of the National Wetlands Awards. Collier expressed the need for the wetland mitigation industry to operate in an environment of fair competition, citing historic issues of unfair competition. She also introduced the newest NEBA Universal Principles whitepaper, citing a need for common standards of mitigation to be followed - regardless of the form of the environmental offset.
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
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For 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 This mindset is not only outdated—it is actively harmful to both outcomes.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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