U.S. Acts to Tighten Protection of Wetlands

Under the Clinton administration, the Environmental ProtectionAgency and the Army Corps of Engineers issued new rules with tighterrestrictions in efforts to close a loophole that allowed the destructionof 20,000 acres of wetlands and an additional 150 miles of streams, EPAofficials claim. The action stems from a court's interpretation ofambiguous language in the Clean Water Act, ruling that developers didnot need to obtain federal permits in order to develop on wetlands aslong as they did not dump soil on the property in question. The NationalAssociation of Homebuilders protested the new rules, arguing that therules created inconsistencies with the court rulings.