U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Seeking Comments on Mitigation Policies

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has requested (pdf) public comment on its revised Mitigation Policy and the Endangered Species Act Compensatory Mitigation Policy (ESA-CMP). The U.S. Department of the Interior previously noted that the Service would be seeking comments on the two policies when it issued its report entitled “Review of the Department of the Interior Actions that Potentially Burden Domestic Energy” in response to Executive Order 13783. These reviews are the latest step in an effort to identify and remove regulatory impediments to domestic energy production and transmission projects.

We reported previously on earlier revisions to the Mitigation Policy that sought to implement the “net benefit” or “no net loss” to natural resources directives from a 2015 presidential memorandum. We also detailed the issuance of the ESA-CMP in December 2016. The ESA-CMP was the first policy to comprehensively address compensatory mitigation under the ESA.

The stated deadline for submitting comments on the revised Mitigation Policy and the ESA-CMP is January 5, 2018.