Sign up to get news from WES. Western Region North Market Blvd. Our Banks. Search Our Banks Map. Alabama Banks. California Banks. Colorado Banks. Florida Banks. Mississippi Banks. Nebraska Banks. Conservation Credits. Stream Credits. Wetland Credits. Full Delivery Mitigation Projects. About Us. ELI also identified an additional 95 banks under review with approval pending as of December The 95 banks under review at that time included an additional 8, acres.
ELI also listed 40 approved "umbrella banks" i. Since this survey counted umbrella banks as a single bank, the number of bank sites is likely considerably larger than this estimate. Mitigation banking has a number of advantages over traditional permittee-responsible compensatory mitigation because of the ability of mitigation banking programs to:. In its critique of compensatory mitigation, the National Research Council NRC concluded that third-party compensatory mitigation such as mitigation banks offer advantages over permittee-responsible mitigation in the fulfillment of regulatory goals.
NRC also noted that banks are more likely than traditional compensatory mitigation to achieve desired long-term outcomes and to create mitigation sites that are protected in perpetuity by organizations dedicated to resource conservation. Additionally, banking represents an increasingly important economic component of the environmental consulting sector, showcasing the synergies that can arise between effective environmental protection and economic expansion.
Sixty two percent of the banks identified in ELI's study were privately-owned entrepreneurial mitigation banks; entrepreneurial providers of bank credits have emerged as a nationally-organized industry 17 contributing hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the domestic product.
EPA looks forward to working with the Corps and our other partners on continuing to improve mitigation banking's effectiveness at offsetting authorized impacts to wetlands, streams, and other aquatic resources. Improving IRT training, increasing mitigation bank tracking and monitoring, and expanding the evaluation of bank performance are a few of the areas the EPA plans to focus on in the coming years.
Skip to main content. Section of the Clean Water Act. Contact Us. See the news release. The Wetland Mitigation Banking Program WMBP is a competitive grants program that supports the development and establishment of wetland mitigation banks to make credits available for agricultural producers.
Wetland mitigation banking is the restoration, creation or enhancement of wetlands for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable impacts to wetlands at another location. Wetland mitigation banking is commonly used to compensate for wetland impacts from development, but it also used for impacts from agriculture.
Conservation compliance provisions for wetlands, commonly called Swampbuster provisions, aim to remove certain incentives to produce agricultural commodities on converted wetlands. Producers seeking benefits through most USDA programs must meet conservation compliance by filing form AD, affirming they will not drain, dredge or fill wetlands in order to grow commodity crops.
In situations where avoidance or on-site mitigation is challenging, the Farm Bill allows for off-site mitigation through mitigation banking. Producers can buy credits from wetlands mitigation banks to compensate for the impact of lost wetlands. Wetland mitigation banks are established through the restoration, creation or enhancement of wetlands.
When a mitigation bank is established, the landowner retains ownership and use of the property, while a conservation easement protects the wetlands from incompatible degrading activities. The size and scope of the wetland restoration, creation or enhancement activities determine the quantity of credits available for sale. The price of credits is negotiated between the buyer and seller with no involvement by USDA.
Bank sponsors develop mitigation banks.
0コメント