Sent by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]

     ACTION: Take a few minutes for wetlands. Join the national effort to
     help wetlands advocates speak up and spread the word before
     October 7th, the comment deadline on the nationwide wetlands
     permitting proposal drafted by the Army Corps of Engineers.

     Your participation will help defeat special interests working to
     weaken wetlands protection and promote private gain at the expense
     of public resources-wetlands, wildlife, and water quality.

     Here's how:

     1) Review the message below, add statements of your own, and email the
     message to the Corps before the end of business October 7th at this
address:
     [log in to unmask]; (the 0 is a number, not the letter O).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THANKS for sending an email message to the Corps  -- may your house
never flood, your water stay clean, and your local wetlands be filled with
birds.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     BACKGROUND: The Corps is currently soliciting comments on new
     Nationwide Permits (NWPs) for wetland and stream destruction.  These
     "rubber-stamp" permits allow developers, agribusiness, and industries
     to destroy wetlands and streams with almost no review and no
     opportunity for public comment.  Since about 80% of all destruction
     activities in wetlands and streams are handled this way, it is
     important to let the Corps know that they must comply with the Clean
     Water Act and only allow these permits to be used for projects that
     will result in no more than minimal adverse impact to the aquatic
     environment on an individual or cumulative scale.

     The latest Corps proposal for Nationwide Permits was published in the
     Federal Register on July 21, 1999. While it represents a step forward
     from earlier iterations, it is riddled with loopholes that will
     undermine protection for our nation's wetlands and streams.  Your help
     is needed to make sure that the good components of the proposal are
     not taken out to satisfy special interests and that the many loopholes
     that leave valuable aquatic habitats vulnerable are closed.

======================================================
Migratory birds don't recognize political borders.  Many species of
wetland-dependent birds migrate through areas where wetlands are not
protected and purchasing all of their habitat is not an option. Thus we
need regulations.
======================================================

     SUGGESTED EMAIL MESSAGE TO THE CORPS -

     SEND YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE TO: [log in to unmask]
                **That's a number 0 , not a letter O**

     Below is the email to send to the Corps. Please review it, add
     statements of your own, and email it to the Corps today at the
     address listed above.

        ****     Send only the portion below to the Corps    ****

Comments are due October 7, 1999, and should be addressed to the Army
Corps at: [log in to unmask]

HQUSACE
ATTN: CECW-OR
20 Massachusetts Ave., NW,
Washington, DC 20314-1000.

     Dear Sir or Madam:

     I would like to comment on the Proposal to Issue and Modify Nationwide
     Permits published in the Federal Register on July 21, 1999.

     Although the proposal represents some important steps forward, it is
     riddled with loopholes that will accelerate losses of our nation's
     valuable aquatic resources, cause more than minimal impact, and
     undermine the Clean Water Action Plan's goal of achieving a net gain
     of wetlands.

     My specific comments are as follows:
     +   The Corps should delete all references to the use of upland
     mitigation for wetland impacts and require, at a minimum,
     acre-for-acre wetland restoration as mitigation for all projects
     impacting more than 1/4 acre of wetlands.

     +   Instead of expanding NWP 40 to allow substantial destruction of
     wetlands for increased agricultural production, the Corps should limit
     this permit to impacts of less than 1/4 acre, with no impacts allowed
     to prairie potholes, playa lakes or vernal pools.

     +   I support the 100-year floodplain restriction. The Corps should
     expand this restriction to include drainage activities as well as
     fills to better protect flood storage areas.

     +   I support the indexing approach to NWP 39 for residential,
     commercial, and institutional development as this will justifiably
     limit the amount of fill according to the size of the project in
     question.

     Sincerely,

     (sign here with your name and address)
====================================================

Comments for replacement permits to replace Nationwide Permit 26 are due
October 7!   Tell the Corps how we feel about the worst nationwide permit
of the bunch-- NWP 26.  This is the final effort of a 3 year long battle
and it would be great if we could go out with a bang-- let's flood the
Corps office with comments one last time!

*** We need to get thousands of comments in, as the developers have used
this time to flood the record with their comments.***

On July 21, the Corps published its final proposal for these new NWPs
intended to replace NWP 26.  Key improvements in the Corps' proposed
changes to the NWP program include lower acreage limits, which will
decrease the amount of wetlands that can be filled in many circumstances
in which NWPs are used, and new environmental conditions that would not
allow rubber stamp permits in floodplains, in or near critical resource
waters, or in or near impaired waters.
====================================================
The major remaining problems are that the Corps' proposal allows rubber
stamp destruction of wetlands for agricultural purposes, has bad mitigation
provisions, is not adequately protective of streams, still allows mining in
streams for gravel through a rubber stamp permit, and relies heavily on the
discretion of District Engineers to include or leave out common-sense
safeguards instead of incorporating them into the NWPs.

Back in December 1996, the Corps announced that it would phase out and
replace NWP 26 with other permits.  Since then, Clean Water Network member
groups have written thousands of comments to the
Corps.  In fact the Corps received 9,000 comments from environmentalists
and 1,000 from developers - the most ever on a Corps regulatory issue.

The Administration is hearing our message -- Join the Wetland Team!
======================================================
Thanks to Clean Water Network, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife
Federation, NRDC, Trout Unlimited, and Sierra Club - their materials were
used in preparing this alert.

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