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Hotel Booking The Bush administration announced today that it would ease some Clinton administration regulations covering wetlands and streams, saying the changes would reduce unnecessary paperwork.

mail campaign three years ago when the Clinton administration proposed rules to ban new logging roads on 58 million acres of national forests. Now, as they try to keep the Bush administration from rolling back those rules, environmentalists regularly note that the Forest Service received 2.5 million comments on the policy, with more than 95 percent in support. They don' mails and preprinted postcards.

Travel Agency John Studt, chief of the regulatory branch of the Army Corps of Engineers, said the revisions "will do a better job of protecting aquatic ecosystems while simplifying some administrative burdens for the regulated public."

It is widely recognized that wetlands and all waters of the United States provide many functions that our society values, and it is time that the law of the land reflect that. I challenge the Bush administration to begin seriously assessing this legislation or something similar so that future generations can count on clean streams and rivers as well as healthy wetlands. It is time for President Bush to put into practice the national goal of achieving ''no net loss'' of wetlands, established by his father many years ago.

Cheap Hotel The steps outlined today by the Army Corps angered environmental advocates, who accused the administration of capitulating to the interests of developers and miners and jeopardizing ecologically sensitive areas.

Mr. Leavitt emphasized that the impetus for the decision was President Bush's determination to preserve streams and wetlands. "At the root of this is a commitment from the Bush administration to achieve the goal of no net loss of wetlands, " he said, adding that these waters "function as nature's kidneys" and "add immense value to economic and aesthetic bounties of this country."

Flight Booking The new rules would streamline the approval of certain development projects by giving more of them a green light under a general nationwide permit. That permit authorizes a developer to proceed and avoid levels of scrutiny by the public and federal agencies responsible for resource management if the project is said to have minimal impact on the environment.

A federal appeals court in Washington put President Bush on notice last week by temporarily blocking an administration rule that sought to bypass Congress and relax regulations on aging power plants, refineries and other industries. The burden's now on the administration to show that its radical policy change can be done without congressional approval. Bush's rule change, which would have taken effect Dec. 26, allowed old plants to upgrade equipment without having to install pollution controls.

Travel Agent Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, said the Army Corps, which is completing a five-year updating of its permit criteria, continues to embrace a policy that requires developers to replace or set aside wetlands to offset their projects. The policy that there should be "no net loss" of wetlands was enunciated in 1989 by President George Bush and has been embraced by his son.

The Clinton administration required a more efficient motor vehicle. Cheney administration is moving in the opposite direction. To the delight of the petroleum industry and its Texas friends, the Bush administration is walking away from a $1.5 billion, fueled motor vehicle, according to the New York Times.

Hotel Chicago "The president is fully committed to the `no net loss of wetlands' policy that was reaffirmed today by the Army Corps of Engineers," Mr. McClellan said.

Online Booking He noted that last week Mr. Bush committed the federal government to co-finance an $8 billion plan to restore the Florida Everglades.

Travel Health Insurance Under the changes announced today, developers will not be required to provide a one-for-one replacement for the acreage affected by individual wetlands projects, as long as that goal is met in the broader region.

Hotel Reservation Under the Clean Water Act, the Army Corps is responsible for granting permits to anyone who seeks to drain or fill wetlands or streams. Wetlands are viewed as an important filter to the water supply, a rich habitat for plants and animals and a valuable release site for flood waters.

London Hotel Booking In March 2000, the Clinton administration increased restrictions under the general permit program affecting wetlands, limiting the amount of stream bed that may be disrupted without closer review and demanding closer scrutiny of activities in flood plains.

Discount Travel Those revisions are rolled back under the new approach. The Army Corps makes a new distinction between perennial and intermittent streams and relaxes rules on filling streams that do not flow year-round. It eliminates some restrictions on flood-plain development and gives local officials greater authority to approve surface mining projects.

Orlando Hotel Environmental groups said the administration, under pressure from home builders and coal miners, was reducing its oversight role in the name of slashing bureaucracy.

Booking Agency "It seems like the folks who are dredging and filling in the wetlands have more friends than they used to," said Howard Fox, the managing attorney of Earthfirst, an environmental law firm.

International Travel Medical Julie Sibbing, the wetlands lobbyist for the National Wildlife Federation, said the Army Corps had forsaken the goal of achieving no net loss of wetlands.

New York Hotel "This arrogant move demonstrates the Corps' complete lack of respect for our country's natural resources and is another example of how this administration is turning its back on protecting our nation's wetlands," Ms. Sibbing said.

Online Travel Booking By Christopher Marquis
New York Times - 1/15/2002

Topic: Wetlands

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