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Cont. pg. 3 Changes to Federal Wetlands Policy

Response to the EPA and the Corps has been viscelal. On the one hand, there is concern that the new rules will allow developers to destroy isolated freshwater wetlands for residential and commercial construction. A spokesman for the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management which regulates coastal wetlands was quoted as saying "it's a weakening of the environmental regulations that were put in place in the mid 1980s". On the other hand, the ruling has upset developers, too. The National Home Builders Association released a statement after the ruling that blasted the EPA for a ruling that "will only perpetuate the confusing disarray of wetlands regulations that currently exists in the field".

Under recent federal court decisions, ditching in wetlands has increased dramatically, most notably in the coastal plain of North Carolina. The majority of the sites adversely affected are located near shell- fishing waters and primary nursery areas. Principal concerns in these areas include increasedsedimentation, higher turbidity levels, loss of habitat, loss of flood storage, damage to critical estuarine nursery areas and their associated plant and animal life, and reductions in near-shore water quality.

North Carolina DENR’s current Wetlands Drainage policy, which the state began enforcing on March 1, 1999, regulates all forms of ditching and groundwater pumping, including construction of ponds in wetlands, ditching in isolated wetlands, rim-ditching, maintenance of existing ditches and ditch expansion. Ditching or draining activities may be subject to enforcement action if unauthorized discharges have occurred. Additionally, DENR is authorized to issue NPDES permits and seek enforcement actions under the CWA for illegal discharges.