Post-Mitigation Rule IRTs in New England: Overseeing Transitions From Pre-Rule to Rule-Compliant In-Lieu Fee Programs

The New England District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) covers six states, which offers both opportunities for learning and challenges for overseeing six different approaches to aquatic resources. The advantage is that we can learn from the experiences with mitigation in one state when dealing with the other states, but the disadvantage is that all six states have different laws related to aquatic resources and mitigation. Also, we have just one region of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) with whom to coordinate, so there is much overlap between the federal members of the Interagency Review Teams (IRTs).