A presidential memorandum released Nov. 3 directs federal agencies to write new policy guidance documents to nail down clearly and consistently their policies on minimizing environmental impacts and using compensatory mitigation for impacts from development projects. The memorandum, signed the week of Nov. 2 by President Barack Obama, applies especially to the Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service as land managers but also applies to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Defense Department-including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The memorandum is, in effect, a follow-up to and expansion upon a mitigation rule issued jointly in 2008 by the EPA and the Corps of Engineers to clarify compensatory mitigation requirements for impacts to aquatic resources under the Section 404 permitting system of the Clean Water Act. For companies and landowners concerned about permitting and mitigation costs, the consequences of the memorandum will show up in the agencies' guidance documents and manuals over the next year or two.
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