Wetlands protections built an industry for mitigation banking. Rollbacks could erode it.

The industry is built on demand spurred by the 1972 U.S. Clean Water Act, which requires developers to offset their damage to wetlands by building or restoring wetlands nearby. But recent federal actions to shrink the scope of that law are pushing states to choose how strictly they will regulate wetlands. The consequences of those decisions not only threaten further degradation of land, water and wildlife, but also the fortunes of an industry that has made a big business out of conservation.