Wetlands Mitigation Banking

Massachusetts Acts Chapter 291, enacted on August 10, 2004, directed the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs to establish a pilot wetlands mitigation bank in the Taunton River watershed for the purpose of mitigating the wetlands impacts of transportation, other public works projects and projects requiring wetlands variances and orders of conditions within the Taunton River watershed. If properly implemented, the wetlands mitigation bank will have numerous benefits including: substantially improved wetlands restoration quality; accelerated bridge replacement and road repair in Southeastern Massachusetts; significant contribution to meeting wetlands permitting requirements for large, public purpose infrastructure projects; enhanced wetlands enforcement activity; and more certain, cost-effective and timely wetlands permitting.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has selected BlueWave Capital, LLC to assist in the implementation of the enabling legislation, specifically to identify a wetlands banking site within the watershed and to undertake the design, permitting, restoration, credit trading, operations, management, and long-term monitoring of the wetlands restoration bank.

Wetlands Banking Review Team

Useful Documents

Wetlands Mitigation Banking Review Team Meetings

Permitting Schedule

Comments for all permit applications should be submitted by January 16 , 2007 with the exception of the Notice of Intent, for which comments will be accepted at scheduled public hearings. Comments should be submitted to each regulatory agency separately for individual permit applications.