New Rules Designed to Protect Wetlands

A key federal agency this week completed wide-ranging new rules designed to protect thousands of acres of wetlands from development in hopes of slowing the steady disappearance of the environmentally sensitive areas nationwide.

The 172-page Army Corps of Engineers regulations would make it much harder to build homes, roads or anything else near small streams and creeks. In most cases, they would require developers and public agencies to secure specific permits for projects affecting a half-acre of wetlands or more, down from the current minimum of three acres. And while they would not preclude all development affecting wetlands in flood plains, as some environmentalists had hoped, they would create serious new obstacles.

Developers, construction groups and the National Assn. of Counties have denounced the effort, saying the new rules will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. They complained that the agency, which has often been criticized for failing to protect the environment, is simply trying to expand its mission to expand its budget.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency never saw the final version of the new rules, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post. Although the corps has scheduled a news conference for Monday to discuss the rules, sources warned that they conceivably could be withdrawn at the last minute. Meanwhile, Rep. Ron Packard (R-Calif.) chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development, has asked the corps to delay the rules, pending an economic analysis.

But barring dramatic changes, environmentalists believe the corps’ plan will help rein in America’s annual loss of more than 100,000 acres of wetlands. The streams and creeks covered by these rules account for about one-fourth of the nation’s wetlands, providing homes to a variety of endangered species, reducing floods and helping to purify drinking water.

“These new rules should take away the biggest weapon of mass wetlands destruction,” said Daniel Rosenberg, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which filed a lawsuit that spurred the new changes.

That weapon is known as Nationwide Permit 26, a virtual rubber stamp for construction projects. While several government agencies are involved in regulating wetlands, the corps--best known for massive water projects that often have destroyed wetlands--has primary authority over approving projects. But before the lawsuit, projects that affected less than 10 acres of wetlands could proceed under nationwide permits--which, according to a recent industry study, cost about one-tenth as much as individual permits and take about half as long to obtain.

The corps previously reduced the top limit to three acres.