Committee weighs timelines and a mitigation fund for threatened and endangered species reviews tied to permits

Senator Tim Lang opened the SB 109 hearing saying the bill would establish firm timelines for agency reviews of alteration of terrain (AOT) permits and create a threatened and endangered species compensatory mitigation fund to receive mitigation fees tied to AOT permit conditions.

Why it matters: witnesses described permit timelines as a bottleneck for housing and development projects. Developers and municipal representatives urged clearer deadlines to reduce project delays; New Hampshire Fish and Game and the Department of Environmental Services (DES) urged careful drafting to protect threatened and endangered (T&E) species and to avoid unintended legal exposure for other agencies.

Fish and Game concerns: - Stephanie Simic, executive director of New Hampshire Fish and Game, and Dan Bergeron, wildlife division chief, praised improvements the agency has made since adopting new rules in 2022 but said the bill as drafted would alter their statutory authority in ways that could let other agencies make…