Day: August 11, 2020

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP) has been actively involved in the operation of Connecticut’s Nitrogen Credit Exchange (NCE) since 2002. During the 2002-2009 period the total value of credits bought and sold was $45.9 million, representing 15.5 million nitrogen credits exchanged. It is one of the few expansive water quality credit trading programs successfully implemented in the United States. The program has provided an alternative compliance mechanism for publicly owned treatment works (POTW) to meet the nitrogen wasteload allocation (WLA) for the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) adopted for Long Island Sound. 

View the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection 2010 summary here: CT Water Quality Trading Summary 2010.pdf

An excerpt from the report:

“The Florida Legislature, through the Watershed Restoration Act (Section 403.067, Florida Statutes), directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to provide a report with recommendations on water quality credit trading (referred to as “pollutant trading” in the law). The DEP consulted extensively with a Pollutant Trading Policy Advisory Committee (PTPAC) comprising expertise from regulated interests, environmental organizations, water management districts, and local governments. 

Water quality credit trading is a voluntary, market-based approach to promote protection and restoration of Florida’s rivers, lakes, streams and estuaries and would supplement and enhance the other voluntary, regulatory and financial assistance programs already in place. Trading is based on the fact that businesses and industries, wastewater treatment facilities, urban stormwater systems, and agricultural sites that discharge the same pollutants to a waterbody (basin, watershed or other defined area) may face substantially different costs to control those pollutants. Trading allows pollutant reduction activities to be environmentally valued in the form of “credits” that can then be traded on a local “market” to promote cost-effective water quality improvements. “

The full text of the report can be found here: Water Quality Credit Trading Final Report – December 2006.pdf

This document summarizes water quality trading and offset initiatives in the United States as of 2004, including state-wide policies and recent proposals. The following format was used to present information on each program. We attempted to have each program summary reviewed by at least one contact person for program accuracy. In the cases where this review occurred, we added the statement “Reviewed by…..” at the end of the case summary. 

Access the entire study here: Dartmouth Comprehensive Trading Survey.pdf