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COMMENTS DUE
ON RAPANOS GUIDANCE BY JANUARY 21st
EPA and the
Army Corps of Engineers are taking public comments on the joint
guidance issued following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Rapanos decision. Comments on the guidance and
experience with its implementation are due on January 21, 2008
The guidance that was issued on June 5, 2007 was
meant to provide clarification about federal jurisdiction of the
waters of the United
States. While a primary purpose of the
guidance was to “establish an efficient and effective process for
determining Clean Water Act Section 404 jurisdiction,” the guidance
instead further confuses jurisdiction about which waters receive federal protection and provides for a
complicated case-by-case process that staff must undergo to make a
jurisdictional determination.
Essentially, the guidance requires waters
to meet one of the two tests outlined in the opinions written for the
Rapanos decision. Protection
of our waters will come for: 1) “traditionally navigable waters” and
wetlands adjacent to these waters, 2) “non-navigable tributaries that
are relatively permanent and wetlands that are physically connected
to these tributaries”, and 3) other tributaries and wetlands if
case-by-case determinations prove there is a significant nexus with
the traditionally navigable waters.
Rather than ensuring protection of our
vital water resources, the guidance ensures significant hurdles for
agencies and citizens, and ultimately, more future court cases.
Because resources are already scarcely available to the agencies,
implementing case-by-case determinations will further waste resources
leaving other waters at risk and more vulnerable to degradation and
destruction.
Urge the EPA and the Corps to revise this
guidance to provide stronger and clearer protections for headwater
streams, "isolated" waters and many wetlands associated
with smaller streams. Primarily, the guidance should uphold current
broad regulations to the extent allowable. As importantly, it must
permit the consideration of the overwhelming collective importance of
upstream and isolated waters to the health of downstream waters.
You can submit comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0282, by one of the following methods: · Online: http:/www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments. · E-mail: OW-Docket@epa.gov. Include the docket number, EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0282 in the subject line of the message. · Mail: Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
For more
information, visit: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/CWAwaters.html
CORPS
OF ENGINEERS REJECTS COURTS SHORE RULING
Corps of Engineers rejects
court's shore ruling – Toledo Blade (01/12/08)
”Lest there be any confusion, Uncle Sam won't
allow himself to be pushed around by a state judge's ruling when it
comes to defining where public and private land meet along the Ohio
Lake Erie shoreline.
The U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers said yesterday it
won't relinquish any power it has claimed to have over shoreline
development projects since 1899.”
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080112/NEWS02/801120392/-1/NEWS
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