A mitigation bank is a site (or suite of sites) restored, created, enhanced, or preserved under a Corps- and trustee-approved instrument. The bank releases credits as performance milestones are met. A permitted project in the bank’s service area can buy those credits to satisfy compensatory mitigation.
That is the whole idea: build the environmental lift first, then sell the currency. It is not a loophole, and it is not automatically cheaper than doing the work yourself.
How credits work
Credits are not generic. Wetland type, HUC / service area, and the bank’s instrument matter. The Corps has to agree the credit offsets your impact. Buying the wrong ledger is a wasted check.
Bank vs permittee-responsible
Banks shift long-term management to the banker and usually close your mitigation obligation at credit purchase (plus whatever the permit still says). Permittee-responsible mitigation keeps the monitoring, adaptive management, and failure risk on you. In-lieu fee sits in the middle where a program exists.
Cypress Environment & Infrastructure is not selling you a bank. We tell you whether credits exist in the right service area, whether the Corps is likely to accept them, and when you still need a site-specific plan.
Questions about how this applies to a Gulf Coast site? Cypress Environment & Infrastructure works from Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola. Office hours are Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
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