Important policy issues concerning the mitigation of impacts from construction and development affecting wetlands are under examination by the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the Environment and Public Works Committee of the U.S. Senate, and the National Wetlands Technical Council. The issues divide into two main parts: (1) how the current strategy to simplify federal regulation of wetlands is limiting the success of mitigation; and (2) how to change the present strategy for mitigation under the U.S. Clean Water Act, if at all. Requirements for site-specific analysis of impacts and their mitigation requirements are being replaced by simple, uniform national guidelines on impact mitigation; these guidelines are designed [...]
