Developers could buy credits from such companies to compensate for the bogs, swamps, marshes and other types of wetlands and streams they fill in. This is the first time the government has issued a rule spelling out what professional standards for wetlands compensation should be required under the Clean Water Act. George Dunlop, the Army’s deputy assistant secretary, said greater use of mitigation banking would make restoration work more predictable and consistent. With the proposed regulations, the government is turning to private businesses to improve compliance.

The lower 48 states in pre-colonial times had an estimated 220 million acres of wetlands and streams, but 115 million acres of them had been destroyed by 1997, according to government estimates. The administration now claims to have reversed the government’s estimated loss of 58,500 acres of wetlands annually. But the National Wildlife Federation says the nation is still losing 130,000 acres of wetlands a year. The group said the administration is including in its count of wetlands “open water systems” such as new lakes, reservoirs and golf and stormwater retention ponds.