H97 - 2015 Appropriations Act, Sec. 14.24: Petition for Wetlands Mitigation Flexibility (SL 2015-241)

Overview: Sec. 14.24 of S.L. 2015-241, as amended by Sec. 5.2C of 2015-268, directs the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to petition the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to allow for greater flexibility to perform mitigation outside the eight-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) where the development requiring the mitigation occurs. DENR must make the petition no later than January 1, 2016, and must further request that the Corps review flexibility and the opportunities for mitigation by other Districts within the South Atlantic Division and nationwide.

DENR must report on its progress in petitioning the Corps to the Environmental Review Commission, the chairs of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Natural and Economic Resources and the House Appropriations Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources, and the Fiscal Research Division by March 1, 2016.

This section became effective July 1, 2015.