A Case Study of Mitigation and Implementation through the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ Permitting Process. Mitigation and Implementation through the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ Permitting Process.

The coastal area of South Florida is sought after for its year-round warm weather and its beautiful beaches. People from all over the world flock to this area to live and vacation. Because of this, there has been heavy construction in the coastal area. Due to increased construction, compensatory mitigation is becoming an increasingly important aspect of coastal growth. Many over-water projects cannot avoid impacts to coastal or underwater resources. Without compensating for potential losses, these unique environments could be lost forever. Requiring compensatory mitigation as a condition of receiving a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers ensures furtherance of our unique South Florida Environment. Analyzing different methods of compensatory mitigation executed through actual construction projects will provide a greater understanding of how these losses are accounted for and rectified. As a result of this investigation, it was determined that, while still effective in compensating for resource loss, the WATER assessment for Everglades Mitigation Bank credits is far more complicated and tedious to carry out in relation to KEYMIG’s easy to follow standardized mathematical calculations. It would be advisable to alter WATER in such a way to allow for a uniform understanding of its process.