Posted by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]
From:
AMERICAN RIVERS - EARTHJUSTICE - NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION - SIERRA CLUB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 14, 2002

CONTACT:
Ken Goldman (EaJus) 202.667.4500
Wendy Balazik (Sierra Club) 202.675.2383
Melissa Samet (Am Rivers) 415.482.8150
Julie Sibbing (NWF) 202.797.6832
Daniel Rosenberg (NRDC) 202.289.2389

Bush Administration
Weakens Important Clean Water Act Permitting Program
Action Threatens Wetlands and Streams Throughout United States:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush administration today threatened the nation's
wetlands and streams by weakening a key program under the Clean Water
Act.  The action overturns stricter environmental standards for the
nation's waters that were adopted in 2000 by the US Army Corps of
Engineers, and allows the continuation of activities that damage or
destroy thousands of acres of wetlands and miles of streams every year.


At issue is the Clean Water Act's program for nationwide general
permits.  While the Clean Water Act allows the Corps to issue nationwide
general permits for activities that discharge fill or dredged material
into wetlands and streams, those permits may be issued only if the
activities will have no more than minimal adverse environmental effects,
both individually and cumulatively.  Activities performed under a
nationwide permit do not require public notice or comment, and they
undergo a much less stringent review, if any, by the Corps than do
individual permits.  Environmental groups charge that the Corps uses
these permits to allow extraordinarily destructive activities, including
mountaintop removal coal mining.

"The Corps says that blowing up forested mountains and dumping massive
amounts of waste into streams has only a minimal adverse effect on the
environment, so I do not want to see what they would consider a major
impact," said Howard Fox, managing attorney for Earthjustice.

After years of public comment and debate, the Clinton administration
issued new nationwide permits in March 2000 that ensured better
environmental protections than earlier permits.  The new nationwide
permits issued today allow the Corps to waive many of the environmental
conditions adopted in March 2000 that were meant to limit the use of
these permits, especially in floodplains and other environmentally
sensitive waters.

"With today's decision, the Bush Administration is thumbing its nose at
Americans who want clean waters and to protect America's streams to keep
America beautiful," said Robin Mann of the Sierra Club.  "The Corps also
seems to have forgotten about the risks to people and property from
allowing wetlands filling in floodplain areas.  They have slackened the
floodplain restrictions adopted just two years ago."

"The new nationwide permits are illegal and irresponsible.  They
guarantee the widespread destruction of streams and wetlands and ensure
that the destruction will not be mitigated," said Melissa Samet, senior
director of water resources for American Rivers.

In the week leading up to Earth Day 2001, President Bush said that he
supported wetlands protections.  Yet, the Corps' new nationwide permits
will increase wetlands losses and stream destruction.

"I doubt the president's State of the Union Address this year will
highlight the increased water pollution, worsened flooding and loss of
wildlife habitat that we can expect from the new, weaker wetlands
policy," said Daniel Rosenberg, an attorney with NRDC's Clean Water
Project. "Apparently last year's Earth Day pledge to protect wetlands
was really just a publicity stunt."

The changes included in the Corps' weakened nationwide permits include:

· Allowing the Corps to waive the 300-foot limit on stream destruction
for intermittent streams, meaning a developer could dig or fill a mile
(or more) of a stream under a general permit that is only supposed to
allow minimal adverse effects
· Loosening restrictions on filling wetlands in floodplains
· Bypassing the minimum requirement that there be at least one acre of
wetlands protected or created for every acre destroyed (1:1 acreage
mitigation)
· Waiving the subdivision acreage cap acre for commercial developments
like office parks and shopping centers, allowing each lot of a
commercial project to destroy ½ acre of wetlands or stream instead of
limiting the damage caused by the entire project to ½ acre

The new nationwide permit package also continues to allow coal mining
companies to bury and destroy hundreds of miles of streams with
mountaintop removal valley fills with virtually no limits or conditions.

The release of new nationwide permits follows closely on the heels of a
surprise announcement by the Corps in late October that weakened the
standards developers must follow to compensate for wetlands destruction.

"The Corps has unilaterally ignored the national goal of achieving 'no
net loss' of wetlands, a goal which has been the guiding principle of
the national wetlands regulatory program since the first Bush
Administration," said Julie Sibbing, wetlands legislative representative
with the National Wildlife Federation. Sibbing summed up this latest
Corps maneuver by saying "This arrogant move demonstrates the Corps'
complete lack of respect for our country's natural resources and is
another example of how this administration is turning its back on
protecting our nation's wetlands."

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