John Paul Woodley, former Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) talks about the goals and the intent of the 2008 Final Mitigation Rule (The Rule) with National Environmental Banking Association (NEBA) Chairwoman Donna Collier in this just released interview.
As the man who enacted The Rule on behalf of the Agency, this enlightening talk explores Inter-Agency Review Teams (IRTs), the Mitigation Hierarchy and other topics. "I consider the hierarchy to be the heart and soul of the Mitigation Rule" he says. "That's because the hierarchy is meant to foster the use of mitigation banks."
Learn from the uncontested subject matter expert in this 30-minute YouTube presentation as Woodley responds to questions from practitioners, regulators and other stakeholders moderated by NEBA Board Member Michael Sprague.
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 This mindset is not only outdated—it is actively harmful to both outcomes.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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