On June 22, 2020, President Donald Trump signed The Navigable Waters Protection Rule to define the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS). The new rule repeals the 2015 Clean Water Rule which will limit the extent of federal regulation. However, it will provide a consistent and clear definition of the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS). Throughout the U.S., Court challenges are already underway, and states have conflicting rulings. This new rule reverts regulations to the 1986 version of WOTUS. Under the
The Navigable Waters Protection Rule to define “Waters of the United States” became effective on June 22, 2020 and will replace the Step One Rule published in October, 2019. For the first time, the agencies are streamlining the definition so that it includes four simple categories of jurisdictional waters, provides clear exclusions for many water features that traditionally have not been regulated, and defines terms in the regulatory text that have never been defined before. Congress, in the Clean Water Act, explicitly
Victoria Bruce at The Mitigation Banking Group, Inc. links interested buyers and sellers of wetland mitigation banks throughout the state of Florida. Since 2004, Bruce has been in the mitigation banking industry and through this experience her network of mitigation bankers throughout the state of Florida connects mitigation bankers that want to sell wetland mitigation banks with mitigation bankers, investors, private equites, agriculture investors that want to purchase wetland mitigation banks. In 2019, Victoria Bruce connected the buyer and seller of two
Hi Everyone! Just a quick update from my home office Winter Springs, Florida. Everything is good and things are moving along despite the obvious slowdown. We remain hopeful that the worst is behind us and we will be back to normal again soon.
Back in February 2020, Bruce had the pleasure of going on a wetland delineation in Sanford, Florida with Bill Griffy of Ecological Consulting Solutions, Inc. The landowner was uncertain what he was able to do or not do with the property for development purposes. An environmental consultant, like Bill Griffy, can do a wetland delineation for your project to see where the wetland lines lay and also determine the quality of the wetland depending on the Location & Landscape, Water
COVID-19 MITIGATION BANKING INDUSTRY UPDATE To the Florida Mitigation Banking Community: I hope this finds each of you safe and well during this time. The Florida Association of Mitigation Bankers strives to be a source of reliable information as changes occur throughout the mitigation banking industry. As such, we want you to know that we are closely monitoring the effects of the COVID-19 situation and its direct impacts on our industry. The FAMB Board members are in frequent contact with the Corps, FDEP, and each
Victoria Bruce is proud to be on the FAMB workshop committee for The Florida Association of Mitigation Bankers (FAMB) 2020 Annual Workshop! Please join us on Friday, February 27th- February 28th at the Omni Jacksonville. *Panelist discussions from: The Florida Department of Transportation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in addition to those from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FDEP and Water Management Districts. A special session will
Victoria recently had the honor of being invited by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, Commercial Council to talk about Wetland Mitigation & Species Conservation at Dubsdread Country Club. Victoria spoke about the mitigation process and the mitigation options for potential adverse/unavoidable wetland impacts throughout Florida. View the presentation and highlights:
The final rule to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule was published to the federal register on 10/15. This rescinds the 2015 Clean Water Rule and re-codifies the regulatory definition of water of the United States as it existed prior to the 2015 rule. The rule will be effective as of 12/23/19. The agencies are taking this final action to repeal the Clean Water Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States,” 80 FR 37054 (June 29, 2015), and to recodify the regulatory
Watch this session for the 2019 Florida Association of Environmental Professionals Conference that was held on Friday, September 20th, 2019. The panel discussion was on Mitigation Banking in Florida: Lessons Learned and Future Trends with Victoria Bruce, The Mitigation Banking Group, Inc; John Lesman, Bio-Tech Consulting, Inc.; and Bill Kerr, BKI, Inc. This presentation included the history, current state, and what the future holds of the mitigation banking industry. This panel discussion provided information on lessons learned, challenges and success stories. The Mitigation Banking