(26)A NEW DAY DAWNING? REGIONAL AND COMPENSATORY MITIGATION ON PUBLIC LANDS

摘要

As the Obama Administration continues to implement its "all-of-the-above" energy strategy,1 the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) continues to grapple with its multiple responsibilities for this strategy. It has labored to support energy development and address its impacts on natural, cultural, historical, and scenic resources and values. Traditionally bureaus within DOI have worked to avoid and minimize impacts, though they have had policies for off-site mitigation and conservation banking for some time.2 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) general guidance on mitigation banking has been available for almost two decades.3 The bureaus, however, have not developed a comprehensive approach to compensatory mitigation. They also have not focused previously upon landscape-level impacts and compensatory mitigation on a landscape-scale.