Number: 1983-18
WHEREAS, Section 404 of the Clean Water Act has been an effective federal program for reducing wetland destruction and mitigating unavoidable wetland losses; and
WHEREAS, the program has saved an estimated 300,000 acres of wetlands each year since it was implemented; and
WHEREAS, recent administrative revisions to Section 404, including the granting of 26 nationwide permits that eliminate federal jurisdiction over most of the nation’s wetlands, have weakened the permit program; and
WHEREAS, administrative proposals to change the definition of the word “wetlands” will harm the effectiveness of the Section 404 program in its goal to maintain the physical, biological, and chemical integrity of the nation’s waters, and will reduce the program’s ability to protect this nation’s valuable wetland resources;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 17-20, 1983, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hereby denounces the dismantling of the Section 404 permit program as both unlawful and contrary to the goals and objectives of the Clean Water Act, and counter to the public interest in wetland protection; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation asks Congress to enact legislation that reverses these administrative revisions and strengthens the provisions of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.