A design update presented to the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors revealed that certain projects may involve added expense due to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
County Engineer Bryan Horesowsky told the board during its Monday, Oct. 28, regular meeting that feedback from the Corps of Engineers regarding applications for permits indicates that the process will involve additional expense.
The Corps of Engineers and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are interpreting the EPA’s new rules and regulations, which Horesowsky said are “fairly vague.”
“One of the rules is if you place a structure or any type of fill in a stream bed. When you do a box culvert, typically, you’re extending whatever structure was there before, so you’re taking up new stream bed,” Horesowsky said. “We had a couple of projects out there that we’ve put in for permits that are coming back saying, ‘You’re taking up too much stream bed.’ The way to mitigate that and the only option to mitigate is to purchase stream bed credits from stream bed banks.”
One of the projects involves replacing a box culvert with another box culvert, extending it 20 feet on each side and putting aprons on each end.
“We need just shy of 200 credits, and we’ve gotten a couple of quotes, and it’s running about $99 to $125 a credit. It’s a lot of money,” Horesowsky said.
Compensatory mitigation
The Clean Water Act’s Section 404 established the program that regulates the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters in the United States, according to the EPA website.
“Section 404 requires a permit before dredged or fill material may be discharged into waters of the United States, unless the activity is exempt from Section 404 regulation,” the website said.
Unavoidable impacts to the environment must be compensated. Mitigation banks are among the mechanisms that provide compensatory mitigation, according to the EPA website.
“A mitigation bank is a wetland, stream, or other aquatic resource area that has been restored, established, enhanced, or, in certain circumstances, preserved for the purpose of providing compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources permitted under Section 404 or a similar state or local wetland regulation,” according to the EPA website. “The value of a bank is defined in ‘compensatory mitigation credits.’ A bank’s instrument identifies the number of credits available for sale and requires the use of ecological assessment techniques to certify that those credits provide the required ecological functions.”
Permittees who have been approved by regulatory agencies can purchase credits from a mitigation bank to meet requirements for compensatory mitigation, the EPA said.
“Mitigation banks are a form of ‘third-party’ compensatory mitigation, in which the responsibility for compensatory mitigation implementation and success is assumed by a party other than the permittee,” the EPA said.
Mitigation banks that are developed to compensate specifically for impacts to streams are known as “stream mitigation banks.”
Chairperson Jeff Sorensen said he wondered if Muscatine County had areas in which mitigation banks could be developed so that taxpayer costs would be reduced.
“If you get a bunch of nonprofits out there doing these, all of a sudden, you’re going to create an industry that’s going to support itself by selling credits, and it’s just going to drive the costs up for taxpayers,” Sorensen said.
Horesowsky said other counties like Muscatine County are learning as they go when they have their first experiences with the EPA rules and regulations.
“I just wanted to bring it to you guys’ attention. It’s going to be an additional expense. It doesn’t feel good spending money on it, but it seems like it’s the new norm,” Horesowsky said.
In other action, the board:
Approved Change Order No. 5 for supplemental roof batten attachment for the Muscatine County Courthouse roof project in the amount of $7,142.93 with a unit price for additional fasteners at $17.86 from Renaissance Historic Exteriors.
Approved suspending the collection of taxes of David Fuget for property in Muscatine. Fuget is unable to contribute to the public revenue according to Section 427.9 of the Code of Iowa.
The code allows for suspension of taxes, assessments, and rates or charges, including interest, fees, and costs for people who receive federal supplementary security income, state supplementary assistance, or are residents of a health care facility.