WSR 99-03-097
PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY
DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY
[Order 98-26--Filed January 20, 1999, 10:22 a.m.]
Subject of Possible Rule Making: This rule will outline procedures for the operation, monitoring, and implementation of wetland mitigation banks. The rule will also establish a predictable process for certifying mitigation banks. Among other concepts, the rule will address the definition of service areas, the determination and release of credits, performance standards, and long-term financial assurances.
Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: Chapter 90.84 RCW, Wetlands Mitigation Banking, directs the Department of Ecology (ecology) to develop a rule that "… provides a predictable, efficient, regulatory framework, including timely review of mitigation bank proposals."
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The law requires that ecology develop a rule for wetland mitigation banking. The rule will provide a consistent, predictable, and efficient state-wide framework for certifying mitigation banks in Washington state. The rule will assist in ensuring that banks are properly sited, designed, and monitored to provide the most environmental benefit. In addition, the rule provides an additional regulatory tool for compensating unavoidable impacts to wetlands as well as a venue for implementing watershed priorities.
Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: Federal Guidance for the Use and Operation of Mitigation Banks was published in the Federal Register on November 28, 1995 (FR Vol. 60, No. 228, PP. 58605-58614). This is no federal rule regarding banking. However, this guidance and the federal Clean Water Act gives the United States Army Corps of Engineers a pivotal role in the approval of banks. There are no other state agencies in Washington that regulate wetland mitigation banks. However, the law requires local governments to be signatories on certifications of individual banks. At least one county, King, has published a local [no further information supplied by agency].
Process for Developing New Rule: Negotiated rule making.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication. Ecology is using a collaborative process for developing this rule. An eighteen-member advisory team will meet monthly through August 1999. Their first meeting occurred December 10, 1998. For information on these meetings or how to comment and participate in the rule development process, contact: Judy Geier, Environmental Specialist, SEA Program, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600, (360) 407-7257, jgei461@ecy.wa.gov or the website at www.wa.gov/ecology under "Shorelands and Wetlands."
January 13, 1999
Gordon White
Program Manager