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REPORT:U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Open up 11,000 Acres of Wetlands in 15 StatesTotal Wetlands Area in Question is 5 Times Bigger Than Drillable Portion of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Nearly five years ago, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Clean Water Act did not protect so-called “isolated” wetlands that provide critical habitat for migratory birds. The 15 states with the most wetlands exempted by the Corps’ aggressive implementation of that decision since 2004 are: Nebraska (2,970-3,139 acres); North Dakota (2,134-2,474 acres); Florida (1,699-1,884 acres); Illinois (643-1,332 acres); Texas (642-887 acres); Georgia (539-1,104 acres); South Dakota (479-704 acres); Colorado (469-872 acres); Wisconsin (434-641 acres); Indiana (407-645 acres); Ohio (259-325 acres); California (215-344 acres); Minnesota (169-356 acres); Iowa (150-274 acres); and New York (140-205 acres). Even at the low-end estimate of 11,000 acres of wetlands opened to potential exploitation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the area in question is more than five times larger than the 2,000 acres that proponents of oil exploration in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) claim that they need for actual drilling purposes. EIP Director Eric Schaeffer said, in a prepared statement to the press, “By a narrow majority, the Supreme Court voted to shrink the Clean Water Act and opened thousands of acres of wetlands to commercial development. Disappearing wetlands increase the risk of flooding, threaten the survival of migrating birds and endangered species, and diminish the environment for outdoor lovers and sportsmen. Developers are going to keep attacking the Clean Water Act, and the public should understand that the new Supreme Court has the power to determine whether our wetlands live or die.”
EIP found that a wide range of commercial interests will benefit from recent determinations by the Corps' wetlands-related decisions, including a Wal-Mart shopping center in Texas, a titanium sand mine in Georgia, a peat bog mine in Florida, and, in several states, residential development and golf courses. The fact that the Corps has determined a wetland is exempt from the Clean Water Act does not necessarily mean that all of the acreage in question will be destroyed. Developers may choose to preserve some for aesthetic reasons, and in a few instances, state or local regulation could help to fill the void left by the Corps. But in the vast majority of cases, once the Corps decides that the Clean Water Act no longer applies, the wetland at issue are completely vulnerable to being carved up by commercial interests. Highlights of the EIP report include the following findings:
As the EIP report notes, the United State has lost more than half its native wetlands since European settlement began. Wetland losses averaged 300,000 acres a year in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, but slowed to about 60,000 acres a year in the late 1990s, thanks to a combination of Clean Water Act regulation and voluntary incentives for conservation. While the Supreme Court’s opinion was limited to “isolated” wetlands that are home to migratory birds, the Corps has gone further in many cases by dismissing wetlands without considering other benefits. Schaeffer said: “As bad as the Supreme Court decision was, the Army Corps has made it worse by going further than the opinion required. President Bush has pledged to support 'no net loss of wetlands.' But the Corps’ decisions to remove wetlands from the Clean Water Act in so many cases speak louder than words.” The Environmental Integrity Project is a non-profit non-partisan organization dedicated to stronger enforcement of existing federal and state anti-pollution laws, and to the prevention of political interference with those laws. EIP's research and reports shed light on how enforcement and rulemaking affect public health. It also works with communities seeking enforcement of environmental laws.
Copyright © 2005 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on September 16, 2005. |
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