Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) established a program to regulate the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands. Activities regulated under this program include fill for development, water resource projects (such as dams and levees or harbor deepening), infrastructure development (such as highways, seaports, and airports) and mining projects. The objective of the CWA is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. The basic premise of the program is that to be permitted to discharge dredged or fill material into a stream or wetlands permittees must first have taken steps to avoid and minimize the impacts. If impacts are unavoidable then permittees must provide compensation. The preferred method of compensation is to purchase wetlands or stream credits from an approved mitigating bank that has restored similar aquatic resources.
Our activities include establishing and operating wetlands mitigation banks, based on site restoration activities and rules and regulations set forth by the USACE and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As of December 2014, nationally only 1,428 mitigation bank sites had been approved by the USACE to provide wetland credits and stream mitigation credits.
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