(Washington, DC) — Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated a 2001 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rule clarifying when redeposits of dredged material require a permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The decision reopened the debate over when such redeposits constitute “additions” of pollutants under the Clean Water Act. In the current National Wetlands Newsletter issue (July-August 2007), Jan Goldman-Carter, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation, contends that the decision effectively reinstated the rule EPA and the Corps had prior to 2001, a rule that rightfully allows them to continue regulating redeposits. “This assessment of the issue is quite timely, particularly since the agencies are grappling with how to deal with the decision,” says NWN editor Rachel Jean-Baptiste. “One of the options they are considering is to reinstate the pre-2001 rule, which is the approach argued for in this article.”
The July-August issue also covers other CWA-related agency developments, including the Corps’ misuse of its authority to issue general nationwide permits under the CWA, the significance of the changing regulatory framework of wetlands mitigation, and the legal and scientific grounds for finding federal jurisdiction over wetlands and streams after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Rapanos v. United States. Another article highlights a non-governmental organization’s efforts to conserve wetlands and reduce poverty sustainably.
For more than two decades, the nationally recognized National Wetlands Newsletter has been a widely read and esteemed journal on wetlands, floodplains, and coastal water resources. The Newsletter, published by the highly-respected Environmental Law Institute, analyzes the latest issues in wetland regulation, policy, science, and management through feature articles written by local, national and international experts from a variety of perspectives.