§ 143-214.13.  Division of Mitigation Services: reporting requirement.

(a) The Department of Environmental Quality shall report each year by November 1 to the Environmental Review Commission, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources, and the Fiscal Research Division regarding its progress in implementing the Division of Mitigation Services and its use of the funds in the Ecosystem Restoration Fund. The report shall document statewide wetlands losses and gains, compensatory mitigation performed under G.S. 143-214.8 through G.S. 143-214.12, and gains in acre-feet of flood storage capacity from projects funded under G.S. 143-214.11A. The report shall also provide an accounting of receipts and disbursements of the Ecosystem Restoration Fund, an analysis of the per-acre cost of wetlands restoration, and a cost comparison on a per-acre basis between the State's Division of Mitigation Services and private mitigation banks. The Department shall also send a copy of its report to the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly.

(b) The Department shall maintain an inventory of all property that is held, managed, maintained, enhanced, restored, or used to create wetlands or to enhance or restore flood storage capacity under the Division of Mitigation Services. The inventory shall also list all conservation easements held by the Department. The inventory shall be included in the annual report required under subsection (a) of this section. (1996, 2nd Ex. Sess., c. 18, s. 27.4(a); 1997-443, s. 11A.119(a); 1999-329, s. 6.2; 2005-386, s. 3.6; 2010-142, s. 3; 2015-1, s. 4.6; 2015-241, s. 14.30(u); 2017-57, s. 14.1(h); 2020-79, s. 11A(d).)