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Ikes Leader Urges Broader Wetland Protection
IKE LEADER URGES BROADER WETLANDS PROTECTION AT SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING
August 2, 2006
Contact: Steve Kline
Conservation Associate
Izaak Walton League of America
(301) 548-0150, ext. 235
Washington DC – The recent decision on wetlands protection under the federal Clean Water Act by the Supreme Court of the United States threatens thousands of acres of critical wetlands due to “bureaucrat misinterpretations” by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, said Chuck Clayton, former national president of the Izaak Walton League of America in testimony today before a United State Senate hearing.
Clayton testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water, which is examining the impact of Supreme Court’s decision in the joint cases of RAPANOS V. UNITED STATES and CARABELL V. US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS on “the waters of the United States.”
“The Supreme Court’s decision in Rapanos leaves the status of virtually all prairie potholes in limbo,” said Clayton. He added that “losing these wetlands to development would put the future of these ducks in grave peril. Many other species are also wetland dependent. For example, deer, pheasants, quail, and many songbirds, as well as reptiles and amphibians such as turtles and frogs depend on healthy wetlands as a key component of their habitat during the year. “
Despite the benefits, the protection of wetlands and many other waters has been bogged down by bureaucratic misinterpretations, allowing important Clean Water Act determinations to be made on an ad hoc basis,” charged Clayton. “While the Bush Administration did a good job of defending protection of wetlands and streams in the Rapanos case, they have not sufficiently led the way for consistent, vigorous use of the Clean Water Act to protect these vital resources,” he added.
"For instance," noted Clayton, "over a six-month span in 2005, in the Omaha region of the US Army Corps of Engineers, which includes parts of six states, including my home state of South Dakota, the Corps deemed that at least 2,676 acres of wetlands, lakes, streams, and other waters fell outside the scope of the Clean Water Act. This approach to protecting our most important water resources is just not working."
“The recent Supreme Court decision in Rapanos, further muddied the waters, providing little clarification to agency officials for how they should proceed to protect these important waters and providing no meaningful direction on how the Clean Water Act is to be applied,” said Clayton. “The decision fails to provide what government land managers and environmental regulators so desperately need: a clear formula for protecting our valuable water resources. Protection should be the rule, not the exception. The conservation of our most important waters now depends on the leadership of Congress to make the Clean Water Act more explicitly inclusive of all wetlands, streams, and lakes,” he concluded.
To view the entire hearing, click here: Senate Hearing on Federal Regulation of Wetlands, and to read Chuck Clayton's testimony, click here.
For more information on the Izaak Walton League please visit our website at www.iwla.org
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