NY Times: U.S. Won't Narrow Wetlands Protection

[La_Serpiente]

U.S. Won't Narrow Wetlands Protection

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 — Making an abrupt change in its approach to the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it would jettison plans to remove federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands.

The agency's administrator, Michael O. Leavitt, made the announcement late in the afternoon in a hastily called news conference. The change effectively repudiated an internal draft regulation that proposed withdrawing federal protections from many isolated wetlands and intermittent streams, including many small waterways in the arid West.

"It's our belief that the best approach is to continue reviewing and learning from the data," Mr. Leavitt said, rather than enter into a potentially lengthy legal process by issuing a rule opposed by most state governments.

The legal underpinnings of a regulation narrowing the scope of the Clean Water Act would also have been shaky, he indicated, since recent federal court decisions, including two from the often-conservative United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, rejected arguments that in many respects paralleled the lines of argument that the agency had discussed.

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U.S. Won't Narrow Wetlands Protection

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[Rainbowreflect]

1. Does Cheney know they are doing this?

I don't think uncle dick would approve.

[blindpig]

2. until december 2004 n/t