Federal Laws

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Federal Laws

• Do they help wetlands or destroy them?

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• Since early 1900s
• Many Programs, Acts, and Regulations
• At least five major Federal Agencies

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Federal Agencies

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  (NOAA)
• Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

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Other Agencies

• Department of Defense
• Department of Interior
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Agriculture

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Corps Duties

• Navigation
• Water Supply

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EPAs Duties

• Protecting wetland contributions
• Chemical
• Physical
• Biological integrity

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FWSs Duties

• Managing
• Fish and Wildlife game species
• Protecting
• Threatened and Endangered species

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NOAAs Duties

• Manage Nations Coastal Resources

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NRCSs Duties

• Wetlands affected by agricultural activities

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The Clean Water Act

• Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 1972
• Section 404
• Primary use for all regulations
• Control discharge of dredged and fill materials

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Discharge

• According to Section 404, a discharge of more
  than incidental amounts of soil or other
  materials into wetlands or other waters

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Discharge

• Channel construction and maintenance
• Fills to create dry land on development sites
• Water-control
• Dams
• Levees
• Clearing land

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Clean water Act permits

• According with Section 404, to do anything with a
  wetland or around one. You need to have a permit
• The Corps and EPA issue permits
• The EPA can veto a pemit

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Clean Water Act permits

• EPA vetoes if discharges affect
• Municipal water supplies
• Shellfish beds
• Fishery areas
• Wildlife
• Recreational resources
• By 1991 EPA vetoed 11 of several hundred thousand
  permits

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Clean Water Act

• The downside to this act is that
• The EPA does not inspect all the sites
• Many activities that cause discharge and fill are
  exempted
• Many methods of discharge and fill are excluded

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Activities Excluded

• Normal Farming
• Forestry
• Ranching activities
• Dike
• Dam
• Levee
• Other water navigations

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Activities Excluded cont.

• Temporary sedimentation basins of construction
  sites
• Farm roads
• Forest roads
• Mining roads

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Methods unregulated

• Wetland drainage
• Lowering of ground-water levels
• Permanent flooding of wetlands
• Deposition of material not defined in Section 404
• Wetland vegetation removal

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Other Methods

• Physical
• Filling
• Diverting water away
• Flooding
• Chemical
• Changing nutrient levels
• Introducing toxics
• Biological
• Grazing
• Disrupting natural populations

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Swampbuster

• Food Security Act of 1985 and 1990
• Seeks to remove Federal incentives for the
  agricultural conversion of wetlands
• Renders farmers who have drained or converted
  wetlands for purpose of crop production since
  1985, ineligible for most Federal farm subsidies.

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Swampbuster

• Farmers who lose eligibility for USDA programs
  can regain it, by simply not using wetlands for
  crop production the next year
• Swampbuster lead to the creation of the Wetland
  Reserve Program in 1990
• Gives farmers federal funds to protect or restore
  lost wetlands

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Swampbuster

• The negative of this program
• 74 of U.S. wetlands are on private land
• Land owners would have to agree to participate in
  programs
• Not all farmers participate in the Swampbuster

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Coastal Wetland Programs

• Coastal Zone Management Act (1972)
• Coastal Barriers Resources Act (1982)

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Coastal Zone Management Act

• Encourages states to establish coastal zone
  management plans
• NOAA provides
• Funding
• Technical assistance
• 35 states eligible including Great Lake states

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Coastal Zone Management Act

• States have to have Federal approved plans
• Plans have to have enforceable standards for
  conservation and environmentally sound developing
• 1990, 23 states had Federal approved plans

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Coastal Barriers Resources Act

• Denies Federal subsidies for development within
  undeveloped, unprotected coastal barrier areas
• Congress designates areas on basis of
• Size
• Development status
• Composition
• Wind, wave, and tidal energies
• Associated aquatic habitat including adjacent
  wetlands

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Downside

• These two programs only protect marine wetlands
• Only focuses on coastal wetlands, not inlands

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Mitigation

• Recommended for getting a permit
• Restores wetlands or a wetlands functions
• Also can enhance or preserve an existing wetland
• 2 types
• Onsite
• Banking

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Mitigation

• Onsite
• Requires developer to create a wetland near the
  soon to be destroyed wetland
• Banking
• wetland created, restored, or enhanced to
  compensate for future wetland loss

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Downside

• A study in 8 states revealed that more wetland
  acreage was destroyed than was created or
  restored, when mitigation was included on permits
• Less than 55 of permits included monitoring of
  projects by site visit
• In Florida studies showed that 60 of mitigation
  projects were never started

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Other programs that affected wetlands

• Federal-Highway Act of 1968
• Wetlands destroyed for highway construction
• Federal Livestock Grazing
• Overgrazing promoted loss of riparian habitat
• Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
• Regulate surface mining and reclaiming coal-mined
  lands

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Downside on Federal Laws

• Most of the Federal Laws protect the coastal and
  marine wetlands
• Inland wetlands are more vulnerable to
  degradation or loss
• Current policies provide less comprehensive
  protection

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Downside of Federal Laws cont.

• The biggest downside to the Federal Laws are that
  they are not enforced enough.