Baton Rouge’s development community is showing support for the Trump Administration’s proposed revamp of the Waters of the United States rule, which would redefine what areas are considered federally regulated “waters of the United States.”
Less enthusiastic, however, is the mitigation banking sector, which allows developers to buy credits in land bank sites to offset the loss of wetlands they will destroy elsewhere in the course of land development.
While the proposal recently wrapped the public comment stage, planned changes include a repeal of the Obama administration’s 2015 definition of what waterways are regulated by the Clean Water Act, specifically distinguishing federally protected waterways (which require a federal permit) from state protected waterways (which don’t).
Organizations representing developers say the move would give developers better clarity, simplifying and lessening the cost of the development process. It’s an idea “greatly supported” by the Home Builders Association of Greater Baton Rouge, with president and CEO Karen Zito saying the proposal “reaffirms the primary role of states in protecting our nation’s surface waters.”
“Over the past 30 years, agencies have increasingly expanded their authority and continued to pursue definitions that are based on vague, confusing, and unpredictable criteria that make field identification difficult and sometimes impossible,” Zito says. “The proposal largely corrects the vast overreach of the prior rules.”
For example, many dry properties in Livingston Parish have been construed as wetlands, says Livingston Economic Development Council President and CEO David Bennett, because of the parish’s naturally flat topography coupled with lower areas that might hold water.
Identification as a wetland, says Bennett, ultimately drives up the cost of developing land and delays the process for developers, who must go through the Army Corps of Engineers for permits.
“Anything that clears up the definition or loosens the tight regulations is beneficial,” he says.
Opponents, meanwhile, argue the proposal would drastically roll back environmental protections, allowing for the release of pollution into bodies of water like creeks, lakes and streams.
A rewrite would particularly affect the mitigation banking sector since its banks are part of jurisdictional waters, says Danny Moran, managing director of EcoSystem Renewal, in a prepared statement.
The LSU AgCenter—which is expected to select a partner in the coming days to redevelop 400 acres of university-owned property in St. Gabriel into a wetlands mitigation bank—did not respond to multiple requests for comment before this morning’s deadline.
