Rule Drafted That Would Dilute the Clean Water Act
WASHINGTON — Bush administration officials have drafted a rule that would significantly narrow the scope of the Clean Water Act, stripping many wetlands and streams of federal pollution controls and making them available to being filled for commercial development.
The rule, spelled out in an internal document provided to The Times by a senior government official, says that Clean Water Act protection would no longer be provided to "ephemeral washes or streams" that do not have groundwater as a source. Streams that flow for less than six months a year would also lose protection, as would many wetlands, according to the document.
State and federal officials have estimated that up to 20 million acres of wetlands, 20% of the wetlands outside of Alaska, could lose protection under a new rule like the one in the draft. The effect would be greater in California and other parts of the arid West, where many streams flow only seasonally or after rain or snowmelts.
Administration officials cautioned that no rule change could happen without a public process, which would take many months and offer the public a chance to comment. However, the draft was the first indication of the direction that at least some administration officials want to take in rewriting the rule.
The new rule-making exercise was triggered by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that limited federal jurisdiction over isolated, non-navigable, intrastate waters and wetlands. But the draft rule circulating within the administration would leave a much broader range of waters and wetlands outside the strictures of the Clean Water Act.
Government officials declined to comment on the draft rule until it becomes a public proposal.
If implemented, the change would represent one of the most consequential of the actions the Bush administration has taken to ease environmental regulations.
"It would dramatically cut back the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction," said the official who provided the document on the condition that neither he nor his agency be identified. "It would eliminate protections for ephemeral streams, which could be in the millions of miles of streams, particularly out West where many streams do not flow all year long."
Julie Sibbing, a wetlands policy expert at the National Wildlife Federation, said, "It's like writing off the entire Southwest from the Clean Water Act, where water is more precious than in any other region of the country. Up to 80% to 90% of streams in the Southwest would not fall under the Clean Water Act if this rule were to go forward."
