Current Issues || Our Newsletter || Wetland Alerts

RESTORING FEDERAL PROTECTION FOR ISOLATED WETLANDS AND HEADWATER STREAMS

May 2009 UPDATE
The National Wildlife Federation has posted a new Clean Water Restoration Act website which includes: updates on the status of the bill; links to relevant reports and news articles; and suggestions for how you can help to encourage passage of this important bill.

April 2009 UPDATE
On April 2, 2009, Senator Russ Feingold (WI) reintroduced the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA). The legislation, S. 787, would ensure protections for rivers, streams and wetlands, which were long protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA), but are now in jeopardy of losing protections as a result of two recent Supreme Court cases.

To read the official Feingold press release, click here. The text of the bill will be posted here soon. We expect the CWRA to be reintroduced in the House of Representatives soon. Click here to read an April 8th Action Alert from WWA with information on how you can encourage your Congressional Representative to support this bill.

Momentum in support of the bill appears to be growing. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has come out in support of a legislative fix to clarify jurisdictional concerns and improve wetland protection (click here for coverage), and on April 16th, the NYTimes released an editorial in support of the bill.

BACKGROUND
The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) provides the foundation, and umbrella, for most of the nation’s wetland and stream protection policies. Historically, the CWA was interpreted to regulate construction in, and discharges of pollutants to, all wetlands and waterways in the nation. However, since 2001, a series of court decisions and agency guidance documents have narrowed CWA jurisdiction, removing federal protection on as much as 60% of U.S. stream miles and 20 million acres of wetlands, including an estimated 1 million acres of Wisconsin wetlands.

The Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) was first introduced in Congress in 2007 to clarify the original intent of the Clean Water Act and to re-instate federal protections for isolated wetlands and headwater streams, but the bill has yet to pass. Though Wisconsin passed a state law in 2001 (WI Act 6) to restore protections for those wetlands no longer protected under federal law (e.g., "isolated wetlands"), many states have not.

Wisconsin Wetlands Association supports the CWRA because it will reduce wetland regulatory confusion and tensions in Wisconsin and will improve wetland protection throughout the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins, and the nation.

In the coming months we will be working collaboratively with many partner organizations in Wisconsin, and Washington D.C. to encourage congress to pass this important wetlands protection legislation. Our efforts will include direct communication with Wisconsin’s congressional delegation, and distribution of educational information and action alerts to help Wisconsin citizens express their support for the wetlands protection and this bill.

To receive updates and action alerts about the Clean Water Restoration Act and other WWA priorities and programs, subscribe to WWA’s electronic newsletters: Wetland News and Wetland Alerts.

To read a copy of the 2008 Clean Water Restoration Act click here.

Fact sheets and other information about the scope of the bill and why it’s needed to protect America’s wetlands and rivers can be found on partner organization websites including:

To sign a petition expressing your support for legislation to restore federal protections for all wetlands, visit the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s We Are Wetlands campaign site. Check back soon for more details on Wisconsin Wetlands Association’s efforts to support the We Are Wetlands campaign.