MSUSA is excited to announce that Spellbottom Mitigation Bank has been permitted and credits have been released for sale by the USACE Galveston District.

For more information, read our latest press release.

Houston-area Daisetta Swamp Mitigation Bank’s Mitigation Banking Instrument was signed today. Daisetta Swamp is located just east of Houston, and wetland credits are available for reservation. The bank’s service area is perfectly situated for offsetting impacts due to pipeline and other oil and gas industry-related development.

Read all about it in our Fall 2011 Newsletter!

Scoober Creek Mitigation Bank has wetland and stream mitigation credits for sale. The bank’s service area is one of seven MSUSA-represented banks that serve the Haynesville Shale Play.

For more information about Scoober Creek and the six other banks, view the latest press release.

The USACE, Galveston District, has signed the Mitigation Banking Instrument for Spellbottom Mitigation Bank and wetland credits are now available.

For more information, read the press release about the bank or go to the Spellbottom bank page.

Wetland mitigation gets boost from oil and gas

by Melissa McEver, who covers energy technology, the Port of Houston and international trade for the Houston Business Journal.

Link to this article

Terry McKenzie calls a wetland “Mother Nature’s water filter.” And under federal regulations, any construction projects — oil and gas-related or otherwise — that disturb these “water filters” must be offset by restoring wetlands in the same watershed. That’s where McKenzie’s company, Houston-based Mitigation Solutions USA, steps in.

The company is opening up two new mitigation “banks” — parcels of protected lands that can be restored into wetlands — in the Houston region in a few weeks, giving companies that install pipeline or initiate construction projects in the region a new option for mitigation. Banks are just one option companies can use to offset wetlands impact.

Companies like McKenzie’s walk businesses through the complicated process of applying for mitigation permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and offer credits for purchase from their mitigation banks, which then are used to restore acres of wetlands. The idea is that, in the end, there’s no “net loss” of wetland acreage, McKenzie said.

“If a project is in our banks’ watersheds, then our banks can be utilized,” he said. “We’ll restore a rice farm, for example, and take it back to its original state. We’ll go in and plant native trees to help cleanse water when it flows through the area.”

The two banks opening up are Daisetta Swamp in Liberty County, which covers projects in portions of 13 counties, and Spellbottom in Walker County, which covers projects in portions of seven counties. Both banks can offset wetland impacts in Harris County.

Mitigation banks have existed since the 1980s, but in 2008 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers established consistent rules for mitigation and the use of these banks. In the last few years, companies have turned more to banks and the businesses that market and manage them, said Elliott Bouillion, CEO of Houston-based Resource Environmental Solutions. RES also markets mitigation banks.

“It’s a complicated process for companies, and they need help navigating that,” Bouillion said. “We know a lot about the federal and state regulations, and we do the restoration. Companies are taking this process seriously now, especially because of enforcement, and we help them through it.”

Most of Mitigation Solutions’ and RES’ clients are oil and gas companies, and many are based in Houston, the executives said. RES has credits available to offset impacts in the Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Marcellus shale plays, for a presence in seven states overall. Mitigation Solutions has credits available in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, with plans to expand to Oklahoma and Missouri.

The cost of buying credits and restoring wetlands varies dramatically by location — if the land is close to a city, it often costs more — and the land’s current condition, Bouillion said. There are often multiple mitigation-bank providers within a region, allowing customers to “comparison shop,” he said.

“To compete, you need to be a low-cost producer with high-quality services,” he said.

Using a mitigation bank is the best option for oil and gas companies looking to construct pipelines, said Charlie Ross, director of regulatory affairs for TGGT Midstream, jointly owned by BG Group , a U.K.-based company with its U.S. headquarters in Houston, and Dallas-based EXCO Resources Inc. TGGT has bought mitigation credits from RES for a couple of pipeline projects, he said. RES then restored wetlands in that region, which was DeSoto Parish in Louisiana.

“It used to be that companies did it themselves — this is a much quicker, more efficient way,” Ross said.

As of October 26, all permit decisions that the Corps makes must be backed with documentation of the decision-making process. This is significant because it will help the Corps follow the hierarchy outlined in the New Rule of 2008, in which mitigation banks are the preferred method of mitigation.

Read more here.

Our thanks to Victoria Colangero of the National Mitigation Banking Association for updating us!

Spring2010Newsletter.pdf (688.30 kb)

The proposed Dutch Creek Mitigation Bank in Yell County Arkansas is home to a Black Bear population. Check out the video of one of the bears on our YouTube page and see the picture below.

Dutch Creek Mitigation Bank is slated to be permitted by the Little Rock Army Corps of Engineers early 2012. It will have stream and wetland credits available for sale.

More information about all of our Arkansas banks can be found at this link.