Forwarded by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]
======================================================
To: Sierra Club Friends of Wetlands and Clean Water
From:   Robin Mann, Chair of the National Wetlands Working Group

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

FLOOD THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS WITH COMMENT LETTERS!!!

DEMAND THAT THEY FIX THEIR NATIONWIDE PERMIT PROPOSAL
AND STOP THE EASY DESTRUCTION OF WETLANDS!!!

Please distribute this alert and sample letter to all of your fellow
supporters of wetlands protection.  DEADLINE:  OCTOBER 7

Copy, personalize and send our sample letter [below], or write your own
brief letter.  To email comments, follow the instructions below the sample
letter. Questions:  call Dirk Manskopf in the DC office, 202-675-7915 or
Robin Mann,  610-527-4598 or (contact Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]).

Background:

The battle to deal the death blow to Nationwide Permit 26 is at a critical
juncture.  NWP 26 has been the most environmentally destructive of the
Corps' easy wetlands destruction permits and has caused the loss of tens of
thousands  of acres of wetlands.  Recognizing that the permit violates the
Clean Water Act, the Administration agreed in 1996 to phase out NWP 26 and
replace it with permits that would meet the law's requirements for minimal
impacts to wetlands and streams.  On July 21, the Army Corps of Engineers
released for a final public comment period the proposed new wetlands
destruction permits. Though the Corps has responded to the outcry from
conservationists over its proposal of a year ago -- removing some very
destructive elements and incorporating conditions designed to minimize the
added flooding and harm to water quality caused by the nationwides -- the
new proposal STILL has serious flaws. If adopted in their present form, the
replacement permits would continue to allow unacceptably heavy damage to
the nation's wetlands and streams and would thoroughly undermine the
Administration's goal of achieving a net gain in wetlands by 2005.

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Instructions for emailing comments:  Comments may be sent via email to:
[log in to unmask]  Submit electronic comments in simple text.
                                              *   *   *

[SAMPLE LETTER]

Mr. Sam Collinson
HQUSACE, ATTN:  CECW-OR
20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000

RE:  Proposal to Issue and Modify Nationwide Permits, Fed. Geg. July 21,
1999.

Dear Sir or Madam:

    I am writing to urge the Army Corps NOT to finalize the proposed new
Nationwide Permits without making critical changes needed to ensure that
they spell real progress for wetlands protection.  The current proposal is
seriously flawed.

1. NWP 40 should be withdrawn and thoroughly rewritten.  This permit is an
invitation to destroy agricultural wetlands and it violates the Clean Water
Act.

The extent of destruction allowed should be greatly reduced to meet the
'minimal impact' requirement.  And the new permit should recognize the
Corps' responsibility under the Clean Water Act to determine the impacts of
proposed projects and the necessary mitigation.

2.  The wetlands mitigation requirements are a major step backwards and
must be strengthened.

Permit applicants would be allowed to substitute the planting of vegetated
buffers, even in uplands, for replacement of the wetlands destroyed by a
project. This approach would retreat from the goal of "no net loss" of
wetlands, and would totally undermine the Administration's announced goal
of achieving a net gain in wetlands. The Corps is right to require buffers
to protect water quality. BUT buffer requirements should not be at the
expense of full replacement for destroyed wetlands. All Nationwide Permits
should include enforceable requirements that projects avoid wetland impacts
to the extent feasible and that mitigation for unavoidable wetland
destruction must fully replace all lost acreage and functions.

3. The new replacement permits would allow massive destruction of streams.
The Corps must limit the extent of the damage.

The new permits only limit the number of acres of wetlands and streams that
can be destroyed. However, THOUSANDS of feet of streams could be
channelized, buried or relocated under the acreage limits of the new
permits. The Corps claims that requiring applicants to notify Corps
Districts about larger stream disturbance projects will ensure that more
than minimal harm is prevented. I believe it is only logical to provide a
clear limit on how much stream destruction is allowable under a NWP.  The
new proposal should be changed to assure that no NWP permits a project to
harm or destroy more than 250 linear feet of any stream.

4.  The floodplain restrictions in the new proposal are only a partial
solution.

Prohibiting above-grade fills in floodplain wetlands under most of the new
NWPs is a major step forward, but leaves the program vulnerable.  The Corps
has failed to address the aggravated flooding caused by draining and
channelizing wetlands and streams.  All of the NWPs should be subject to
the floodplain restrictions, and they should apply not only to the filling
of wetlands, but to all projects that increase the speed of drainage.

I urge you to make the changes I have outlined above, so that real progress
in protecting the nation's wetlands will be assured.

Sincerely yours,

cc:     Vice President Albert Gore, Jr.
        1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
        Washington, DC 20500

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