St. Tammany Parish Government is asking citizens to provide public commentary to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District (CEMVN), regarding the Louisiana Wetlands Rapid Assessment Method (LRAM), used to calculate compensatory mitigation requirements when wetlands, streams and other aquatic resources are adversely affected through unavoidable, impacts through authorized activities. Authorized activities can be found under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The interim version of the LRAM, released in early 2016, replaced the Modified Charleston Method as the accepted wetlands credit calculation tool. Comments on the LRAM will be accepted through Wednesday, March 8, 2017.
Written comments regarding the LRAM should be submitted to CEMVN by March 8, 2017 at: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District CEMVN-OD-S 7400 Leake Avenue New Orleans, Louisiana 70118-3651 Comments may also be submitted electronically to Mr. Stephen Pfeffer of the Regulatory Branch at [email protected], who can be reached at (504) 862-2099.
The LRAM Guidebook is available on the RIBITS webpage at: http://ribits.usace.army.mil. To navigate to LRAM, select New Orleans under Filter View for District and then click on the Assessment Tools navigation bar.
EdOp: CW urges the public to send commentary with regard to the issue of wetlands development. Ideally, wetlands are not preferred areas of development, and the current system of developer credits versus property tax should be restructured.
