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Monday, April 20, 2009
Environment - Federal bill would ensure protection of wetlands
Gittle Laasby reports today in the Gary Post-Tribune in a story that begins:
Many wetlands and streams that help reduce the impact of floods in Northwest Indiana and replenish groundwater for drinking are left at risk for pollution and development because of a loophole in federal law.The NY Times had an editorial April 16th headlined "A Clear, Clean Water Act." Some quotes:For several years, Congress has tried to plug the hole in the Clean Water Act. The debate is about to resurface after a new "Clean Water Restoration Act" was introduced in the U.S. Senate earlier this month, but Indiana's two senators have still not decided whether to support it.
Environmentalists, sportsmen and some legislators say two U.S. Supreme Court decisions narrowed the scope of the 1972 Clean Water Act and eroded its intent, which was to protect all the nation's waters from pollution and unregulated development.
The law states that it protects "all navigable waters in the United States." But court cases have interpreted this to mean that only navigable, permanent water bodies are covered, not certain wetlands and streams.
The new definition confused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about which streams they should protect and stopped federal regulators from enforcing against developers who have been disturbing or plan to disturb the waters without a permit.
Clean water policy is in a terrible muddle, and the country has the Supreme Court to thank for it.The 1972 Clean Water Act was written to protect all the waters and wetlands of the United States. Two unfortunate Supreme Court decisions narrowed its scope, weakened its safeguards and thoroughly confused the federal agencies responsible for enforcing it. As a result, thousands of miles of streams and millions of acres of wetlands have been exposed to development.
The remedy lies in a Senate bill called the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would reassert the broad reach of the 1972 law. Similar legislation has been languishing for years, and if this version has any hope, it will need a strong push from the White House. * * *
Until the two Supreme Court rulings, the Clean Water Act had been broadly interpreted by courts and by federal regulators to shield all the waters of the United States — seasonal streams and remote wetlands as well as large navigable rivers and lakes — from pollution and unregulated development. The assumption was that even the smallest waters have some hydrological connection to larger watersheds and therefore deserve protection. The Supreme Court, however, exploiting ambiguities in the law, effectively decreed that only navigable, permanent water bodies deserve protection.
As a result, at least 20 million acres of wetlands and as much as 60 percent of the nation’s small streams have been left unprotected, while effectively shutting down enforcement actions against developers who have been disturbing or plan to disturb these waters without a permit.
The Clean Water Restoration Act would establish, once and for all, that federal protections apply to all waters, as Congress intended in 1972. Now a new Congress and a new White House must ensure that it becomes law.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 20, 2009 06:34 AM
Posted to Environment