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| Vol. 22, No. 6 |
December 3, 2014 |
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Proposed Virginia Wetland and Stream Replacement Fund
In-Lieu Fee Mitigation Program
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| In September 2014, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Norfolk District Regulatory Branch, a Prospectus for a Wetland and Stream Replacement Fund In-Lieu Fee Mitigation Program that will address projects throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and in all watersheds. The Fund will be an alternative source of off-site compensatory mitigation for projects that result in unavoidable impacts to wetlands and streams and other waters of the U.S. in service areas where compensatory mitigation options may be limited – places without mitigation banks or non-government in-lieu fee funds. |
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| The Fund was developed in accordance with the April 2013-passed amendments to the Code of Virginia Sections 62.1-44.15:21 and 62.1-44.15:23.1, which established legal provisions for developing and operating the Wetland and Stream Replacement Fund In-Lieu Fee Program. The amendments were created and passed in part to provide compensatory mitigation alternatives for areas that, in the past, have not generated a lot of interest in developing private banks due to the lack of development and thus perceived lack of demand for credits in their service area. According to DEQ’s Prospectus, the role of the Fund will be to: |
“…consolidate monies from permitted projects and unpermitted actions in surface waters regulated by the Commonwealth and/or the United States and to pool resources to accomplish larger compensation projects involving the restoration, enhancement, and preservation of wetlands and streams, which presumably have a greater chance of ecological success. Projects may include a mitigation bank developed by a bank sponsor or an on-the-ground project coordinated by a project sponsor.”
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| The Fund will be administered by DEQ but will be managed by a group of federal and state agency representatives (the Interagency Review Team (IRT)). The Norfolk District, COE, would chair the IRT. The Norfolk District COE issued a public notice (PN-2014-0851) on their website at: |
| http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Media/PublicNotices/tabid/3060/Page/3/Default.aspx. |
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| Click here for a copy of the DEQ’s September 2014 Prospectus. |
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