What: Announcement of Public Meeting - Updated Mitigation Bank Templates for Enabling Instruments and Conservation Easements
When: September 27, 2016, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Where: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District Headquarters
1325 J Street, Room 814
Sacramento, California 95814
Who: This public meeting is open to interested parties, including mitigation and conservation bankers, consultants, environmental organizations, Federal, state and local agencies, and the regulated public.
Tentative Agenda:
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Opening Remarks
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Comments from attendees
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Closing Remarks
You will need to RSVP to attend this meeting, as security in the building is very strict and room size is limited. Please submit your name and affiliation (company/agency) to Tom Cavanaugh, by email at: Thomas.J.Cavanaugh@usace.army.mil to RSVP or, if you later determine that you will not be attending, to have your name removed from the list. Admission to the meeting will require that your name be listed on the security check-in sheet for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District Headquarters at 1325 J Street. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early, in order to be admitted. You will be given a visitor’s badge in exchange for your photo ID (Drivers’ License, company identification card, etc.). Your briefcases, bags, purchases, etc. will be subject to search. Both you and any items you bring will have to pass through a security scanner.
SUBJECT: Among the comments received, following the September 2015 Public Notice, were a number of requests for the opportunity to verbally present additional comments on proposed updates to the standard Bank Enabling Instrument (BEI) template and the Conservation Easement (CE) template, for use in the development of mitigation banks that are within, or that propose service areas within the State of California. These updated templates would be used jointly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) South Pacific Division, including its Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles Districts, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), as potential participants in Interagency Review Teams (IRT). This notice, as well as the original notice of the proposed updates, may be viewed at: http://www.spd.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNoticesandReferences.aspx.
AUTHORITY: The templates would be used in the development of mitigation banks, which provide mitigation for impacts from projects which have which have received authorizations to proceed under the authorities of Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 for structures or work in or affecting navigable waters of the United States and/or Section 404 of the Clean Water Act for the discharge of dredged or fill material in waters of the United States. Additionally, these templates are to be used when those mitigation banks would also propose to provide mitigation for projects which have been required to provide mitigation by USFWS, CDFW, NMFS, the State Water Board, and/or NRCS. These agencies have committed through an interagency Memorandum of Understanding to establishing a combined and coordinated approach to mitigation banking which includes development of template documents for use throughout the State of California. These templates reflect existing regulations, policies, and guidance and represent the way in which USACE, USFWS, NMFS, NRCS, EPA, the CNRA, the State Water Board, and CDFW intend to implement and provide consistent approach to mitigation banking proposals.
If you have questions or need additional information please contact Tom Cavanaugh, 415-503-6574, Thomas.J.Cavanaugh@usace.army.mil.