NORFOLK, Va. – A program to be signed by the Corps of Engineers on May 24 will be the first of its kind in the country and will once again allow impacts to healthy river bottom on the Elizabeth River to go forward while developers offset the impacts by cleaning up some of the contaminated “goo” elsewhere on the river.

Aboard a Corps of Engineers vessel that will pause ceremonially in the middle of the Elizabeth River, Col. Jason E. Kelly, District Commander, will sign paperwork to authorize a non-profit, the Living River Restoration Trust, based in Portsmouth, Va., to work with developers to mitigate impacts to the river bottom.

The program will be the first in the US to provide for mitigation of river bottom or “subaqueous” impacts by funding restoration of healthy river bottom elsewhere. Officially titled an “in lieu fee” program, it works similar to a wetlands bank. These banks already exist throughout the country to mitigate impacts to wetlands and streams.