Three federal agencies took another step toward streamlining the regulatory process for building roads with federal money.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued guidance to replace wetlands impacted by federal-aid highway projects and enhance regulatory decision-making.

Federal Guidance on the Use of the TEA-21 Preference for Mitigation Banking to Fulfill Mitigation Requirements under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act was jointly developed by the three agencies as part of the Bush administration's National Wetlands Mitigation Action Plan.

“We're pleased to be part of the first action item in the Bush administration's wetlands mitigation action plan,” says FHWA Administrator Mary E. Peters. “This guidance will lead to greater understanding between the agencies and simplify the way we mitigate a project's impact on wetlands.”

TEA-21 established a preference for mitigation banking to compensate for unavoidable losses to wetlands or other natural habitat caused by transportation projects receiving federal assistance under Title 23 of the U.S. Code. The preference relates to the eligibility of federal-aid funds for wetland compensatory mitigation under both the National Highway System and the Surface Transportation Program. The guidance will assist agency field personnel and the sponsors of federal-aid highway projects by clarifying the factors to be considered in implementing that preference consistent with existing regulations and policy.

The National Wetlands Mitigation Action Plan is part of the administration's goal of no net loss of wetlands. It outlines a series of steps to be taken over three years to improve mitigation site selection, ensure more effective performance monitoring, and develop interagency mitigation databases which accurately reflect the performance of compensatory mitigation sites.

The plan commits the agencies to develop additional guidance to provide better mitigation decisions, such as considerations for on-site versus off-site and in-kind versus out-of-kind mitigation by the end of 2003, and the appropriate use of vegetated buffers and preservation by 2004.