The Environmental Protection Agency and Corps of Engineers have forged a wetlands preservation policy that signals there are realistic limits to President Bush's dedication to the environment.
When Bush entered the White House, amid his baggage of campaign pledges was one declaring there would be "no net loss" of wetlands.
Wetlands are the water-bogged marshes and swamps that are of little use to humans but are important wildlife habitats.
WHAT'S AT ISSUE
Environmentalists say development is depriving the nation of as much as 450,000 acres/year of wetlands.
For months, EPA and the corps, which oversees wetlands development under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, have tried to agree on a wetlands policy to implement Bush's pledge.
Naturally, oil companies active in South Louisiana have been concerned. Interstate gas pipelines also have lobbied hard on the issue.
So have oil companies active in Alaska. Because the Alaskan tundra is technically wetlands, they warned that the original EPA-corps pact would have halted drilling there.
Under that plan, a developer would have to obtain a permit to fill or dredge a wetlands using the method least damaging to the environment.
If there were significant change, the developer would be required to restore an existing wetland or create an artificial wetland on a 1 acre restored per 1 acre lost basis.
The original agreement was supposed to have been effective last December but was postponed three times while John Sununu, White House chief of staff, negotiated with EPA Administrator William Reilly.
The issue was nothing new for Sununu. While governor of New Hampshire he had battled with EPA over a wetlands policy that hampered construction of a state highway.
Sununu won the latest battle. The final EPA-corps policy is designed to give the government the flexibility to allow wetlands development in regions where there is a high percentage of such areas-Louisiana and Alaska, for example.
EPA and the Corps of Engineers also could permit wetlands development if they determined it would prevent another form of serious environmental harm. And they could waive the required mitigation measures if they were impractical or would result in only slight improvements.
Gas pipelines have worked hard on the issue. Although many lines are laid through marshy areas of the South, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America argued that wetlands loss from pipeline construction was temporary and should not be subjected to a one-for-one replacement rule.
DECISION NOT FINAL
The issue is not yet firmly decided. A White House task force plans public meetings on the new policy, and you can bet Congress will have its say at hearings or possibly in riders to legislation.
But according to oil lobbyists, the administration has taken a practical approach to wetlands preservation.
And the action, along with recent White House decisions on the Clean Air Act and global warming issues, indicates that Sununu is blunting the administration's environmental idealism.
Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.