RES Supports U.S. Government Efforts to Provide Mitigation Predictability

On Tuesday, November 3, 2015, a Presidential Memorandum was issued aimed at streamlining how natural resource impacts are offset by directing certain Federal agencies to adopt common practices, to provide predictable and equivalent standards and to promote advanced compensation. The end result is that this should reduce the permitting time for economic development projects that have unavoidable impacts while at the same time encouraging private investment in advanced restoration and compensation. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/11/03/mitigating-impacts- natural-resourcesdevelopment-and-encouraging-related). George Kelly, Chief Markets Officer at RES, notes “it is well known in the Clean Water Act context that advanced compensation for impacts reduces permit processing times, reduces costs and provides more credible mitigation on-the-ground. This Memorandum builds on that concept and establishes a preference for ecological restoration and conservation in advance of development and seeks to create consistency in the application of mitigation standards. This is a win-win-win for the developers seeking permits for impacts, for the agencies regulating those impacts and for private sector and non-profit entities providing advanced compensation solutions. We also have seen that when there is predictability and a preference for advanced compensation, that significant private conservation investment in advanced ecological restoration is enabled. This Memorandum also provides more discipline on how taxpayer dollars are spent on ecological restoration and conservation projects by focusing on performance, accountability and demonstrated outcomes. Having worked for the past 17 years at developing both policy and practice for wetland, stream and species offsets, we applaud the efforts of the Administration in adopting a predictable and balanced approach that also provides incentives for private investment in conservation.”

RES is America’s leading provider of ecological offsets for projects with unavoidable impacts to wetlands, streams and habitats. Any development project that has an impact on the surface of the Earth is likely to require a permit for their operations from one or more governmental regulatory agency. “Since our founding in 2007, RES has helped hundreds of clients who are building America’s infrastructure — roads, schools, shopping centers, manufacturing plants, railways, and pipelines — obtain their required permits in a timely manner by delivering ecological offsets where and when needed. Our role is to directly enable a balance of economic development and responsible environmental stewardship through delivery of effective, success-based ecological restoration,” said Elliott Bouillion, CEO of RES.