Three agencies sign Maine In-Lieu Fee Agreement  

Jul. 1, 2008

By Timothy Dugan
New England District

Maine's Department of Environmental Protection, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, signed the Maine In-Lieu Fee Agreement on Jan. 31, in The Nature Conservancy Office in Brunswick, Maine.
 
The agreement will use Maine's Natural Resource Mitigation Fund to provide an alternative to site-specific compensation for people seeking permits that impact wetlands or U.S. waters.  Previously, site-specific mitigation for many of these projects has had limited ecological value due to their size, location and/or permittee's ability to provide appropriate stewardship.
 
This agreement will provide permit applicants an efficient and workable alternative of paying a fee to compensate for any lost wetlands functions and values after all efforts have been made to avoid or minimize those impacts. The fees will be used to restore, create, enhance aquatic resources and/or preserve aquatic resources and their associated uplands.
 
The In Lieu Fee (ILF) program is available for use as compensation for unavoidable impacts to waters of the U.S., including wetlands, resulting from activities authorized under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and/or Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act and/or the Natural Resources Protection Act in the state of Maine.  Recipients of permits or authorizations for projects in Maine may be eligible to use the program to satisfy mitigation requirements. ILF is an option available to the applicant instead of completing project-specific mitigation. Use of the ILF program is contingent upon the Corps' and/or state approval.
 
The fee in lieu of project-specific mitigation will be determined by the Corps in consultation with resource agencies. 
 
More information is available on the Corps' Web site at http://www.nae.usace.army.mil.  Select Regulatory/Permitting and then Mitigation and select "Maine In-Lieu Fee Agreement."