Number: 1999-20
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has long recognized the value of wetlands for critical fish and wildlife habitat, flood control, groundwater recharge, removing pollutants from water and for erosion control; and
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has worked for and supported wetlands protection and restoration; and
WHEREAS, over half of the original wetlands in the United States have been destroyed and the remaining wetlands continue to suffer a loss of over 100,000 acres per year; and
WHEREAS, conservationists, wildlife organizations and the Administration have proposed a national target of achieving 100,000 acres of net wetlands gain each year; and
WHEREAS, sprawl development, filling and draining, sand and gravel mining and dam construction are ongoing causes of wetland loss and degradation; and
WHEREAS, the Section 404 permit program of the Clean Water Act is the chief federal regulatory program that protects wetlands and plays an essential role in meeting the goals of the Act (the restoration and maintenance of the nation’s waters); and
WHEREAS, Section 404(a) charges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review proposed activities that destroy wetlands and other waters of the United States, to seek and consider public comment on such proposals, and to deny such proposals where less-damaging alternative sites or designs exist; and
WHEREAS, Section 404(e) allows the Corps of Engineers to issue general permits on the nationwide, regional or local levels to give pre-approval to categories of projects that are similar in nature and that have minimal individual and cumulative impacts on the environment; and
WHEREAS, proposals authorized under nationwide wetland permits are not published for public review or given significant scientific review but are essentially approved automatically; and
WHEREAS, the Corps of Engineers has issued 39 nationwide permits, several of which cover activities that are not similar in nature and have more than minimal impacts; and
WHEREAS, the Corps of Engineers has failed to collect meaningful data on the wetlands destruction as a result of these nationwide permits or the impacts on wildlife, downstream flooding, water quality, and people; and
WHEREAS, on April 31, 1998, a federal judge struck down Nationwide Permit 29 (NWP) on the grounds that the Corps of Engineers had not considered whether the permit could be written to allow much less wetlands destruction; and
WHEREAS, on July 1, 1998, the Corps of Engineers proposed six new nationwide permits to replace the destructive Nationwide Permit 26 and six modifications of existing nationwide permits, with little or no data to show that these proposed nationwide permits would allow only minimal environmental destruction; and
WHEREAS, despite changes issued by the Corps of Engineers in a supplemental notice on October 14, 1998, the proposal for new and modified nationwide permit would still allow more wetlands to be destroyed without public comment or environmental review than NWP 26 currently allows; and
WHEREAS, the proposed new and modified nationwide permits would exempt from scientific review and public comment projects as varied as residential subdivisions, strip malls, golf courses, gravel mines, highways, airport runways, pipelines and hard rock mines; and
WHEREAS, the Corps of Engineers’ proposed new and modified nationwide permits will make it extremely difficult for this country to achieve no net loss of wetlands, let alone a new gain of wetlands;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 18-21, 1999, in Houston, Texas, calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw the proposed new and modified nationwide wetland permits and provide that any future proposed permits comply fully with the requirements of the Clean Water Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges that the Corps of Engineers:
- collect meaningful data on wetlands and other aquatic habitats destroyed by projects authorized under existing nationwide permits, including data describing the functions and values those wetlands serve and the wildlife those wetlands support; and
- make that data available to the public for review; and
- review and revise existing nationwide permits to ensure that the permits comply fully with the requirements of the Clean Water Act; and
- improve monitoring and enforcement efforts to ensure better compliance with the requirements of nationwide permits and the Clean Water Act.