Subject: U.S. Wetlands Policy: White House Press Release

From: [email-masked] (Nigel Allen)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1993 07:44:09 GMT

Here is a press release from the White House Office on 
Environmental Policy. I downloaded it from the PR On-Line BBS in 
Maryland at 410-363-0834. I do not work for the U.S. government.

 New Federal Wetlands Policy Offers Fair, Flexible Approach
Ends Agency Infighting and Gridlock with Strong Agreement
 To: National Desk, Environment Writer
 Contact: White House Office of Environmental Policy,
          220-456-2100

   WASHINGTON, Aug. 24  -- A new federal policy
that offers a fair, flexible and comprehensive approach to managing
America's wetlands was unveiled today (8/24) by nine federal
agencies, ending years of agency infighting and gridlock.
   "This plan is balanced and fair.  By bringing together all the
interested parties, we've moved beyond polarization and paralysis and
arrived at a plan that is flexible and effective," said Kathleen
McGinty, Director of the Office on Environmental Policy.
   Nine federal agencies were involved in the development of the
new wetlands initiative announced today, including the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and
the Army Corps of Engineers.  Since June, an interagency group
convened by the White House Office on Environmental Policy has heard
from farmers, environmentalists, developers, scientists, state and
local public officials, and members of Congress about our nation's
wetlands.
   The interagency working group was formed in response to a
request to President Clinton from seven U.S. Senators asking that the
White House take the lead in resolving the contentious wetlands
issues that have been the center of controversy and disagreements for
years.
   "The new agreement is a significant advance in protecting
American wetlands, which are currently being lost at a rate of nearly
300,000 acres per year," said Carol M. Browner, Administrator of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  "The agreement is fair to
landowners at the same time that it protects our water quality and
wildlife."
   Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy said, "This new wetlands policy
is meaningful reform -- for the environment and for the farmers and
ranchers of America.  It is a fair and flexible policy that
simplifies the process of identifying wetlands and provides farmers a
simpler method for identifying federal requirements for wetland
conservation."
   The wetlands initiative includes more than 40 changes to current
wetlands policy, including establishing a more effective process so
that landowners and farmers can seek review of permit decisions
without having to go to court.
   Wetlands protection efforts in recent years have been
controversial, leading to years of protracted disagreements between
federal agencies that undercut the effectiveness of the program and
caused confusion and frustration among the states and with the
public.  The plan unveiled today breaks the gridlock caused in the
past by warring federal agencies and reflects a new consensus on a
wide-ranging set of improvements to the program.
   "The cooperation fostered in the interagency working group will
translate into better coordination in the field, more effective
wetlands protection, and a more efficient regulatory program," said
G. Edward Dickey, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil
Works.
   Gerald B. Digerness, President of the National Association of
Conservation Districts and a dairy farmer said, "After years of
confusion and conflict regarding wetlands protection and regulation,
America's conservation districts welcome what appears to be a fair,
flexible and technically feasible approach that recognizes the
environmental, economic and social benefits of these valuable
resources."
   The plan will better protect wetlands by closing a loophole in
regulations that allowed certain destructive activities, such as
draining wetlands, to go unregulated.  It also expands a wetlands
reserve program to allow farmers to sell easements to the government
for wetlands restoration purposes.
   The plan includes several administrative actions that will take
effect over the next several months, as well as legislative
recommendations for Congress this fall as part of the reauthorization
of the Clean Water Act.
   Specifically, the wetlands plan will:

   -- Establish a new, efficient, money- and time-saving
administrative appeals process so that farmers and other landowners
can seek review of permit decisions without going to court;
   -- Continue use by all agencies of the 1987 wetlands delineation
manual pending completion and review of the National Academy of
Sciences study, expected in September 1994.  Any future revisions to
the manual will be subject to a public rule- making process;
   -- Impose deadlines and provide additional guidance so that
permitting decisions will be made in a timely and more predictable
fashion;
   -- Increase emphasis on state, tribal and local government
roles, as well as voluntary wetlands protection and restoration
programs with landowners;
   -- Reduce duplication and inconsistency for American farmers, by
designating the Soil Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture as the lead agency for wetlands determinations on
agricultural lands;
   -- Withdraw a proposed rule that would have left critical
Alaskan wetlands unprotected.

 -30-

-- 
Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada  [email-masked]