Palmer Hough and Rachel Harrington of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), writing in January's Environmental Law Reporter reflect on the past decade's progress and the significant collective efforts of "mitigation practitioners, private-sector entrepreneurs, conservation organizations, scientists, and regulators in improving 1. 33 U.S.C. §§1251-1387, §1344, ELR Stat. FWPCA §§101-607."
Hough was the USEPA's lead author on the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule, which was developed jointly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He currently serves as EPA’s national lead on wetland, stream, and other aquatic resource mitigation.
The report documents the growth in mitigation banking, increases in credit transactions, time savings for permittees using mitigation credits and the fact that more permittees are using mitigation credits to offset unavoidable impacts. A fascinating report written by folks who truly understand the industry. Read More via NEBA's Reports Page
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
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 This mindset is not only outdated—it is actively harmful to both outcomes.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
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