Passage of Illinois HB 422, the Wetlands Protection Act seen as urgent

Champaign, November 6, 2003: A new Bush Administration Clean Water Act draft rule released in the press today demonstrates the Administration’s intent to give developers and industry a blank check in their quest to destroy the nation’s wetlands and streams, giving new urgency to need for passage of the Illinois Wetlands Protection Act, HB 422.

The state of Illinois has only one million acres of wetlands left today, down from an historical ten million acres. This draft rule puts more than a third of those wetlands that remain at risk of immediate destruction, with significant impacts for the environmental and economic health of the state.

“Wetlands provide some of the best wildlife habitat in the state, for fish, waterfowl and numerous other species. They are also extremely important to the protection of water quality, acting as a natural filter for pollutants, and protect private property by absorbing floodwaters,” said Jean Flemma, Executive Director of Prairie Rivers Network.

“Recent polls show that citizens in Illinois overwhelmingly support the protection of wetlands, water quality, and fish and wildlife habitat. Illinois Senators must pass the Illinois Wetlands Protection Act, and protect against the sweeping changes to the Clean Water Act proposed by the Administration.”

The bill, HB 422, was passed by the House last spring and will be considered by the Senate during the veto session this month. It is intended to provide protections for Illinois’ wetlands that have been left vulnerable by a 2001 Supreme Court decision that limited Clean Water Act protections for some “isolated” wetlands. The Bush Administration’s proposed rule would drastically expand the affects of that ruling, not only as it applies to wetlands but also as it applies to streams and ponds.

For instance, the draft rule would eliminate Clean Water Act protections for ephemeral and intermittent streams that do not have groundwater as their primary source of water flow, or that flow for less than six months of the year.

“In addition to threatening our wetlands with unrestricted filling and destruction, the draft rule would also threaten thousands of miles of streams in Illinois with a similar fate. This will only exacerbate flooding problems and further threaten water quality and fish and wildlife habitat,” said Flemma.

“To claim that it simply clarifies what was found to be a very narrow court ruling is ludicrous and an affront to the citizens of the United States whose property and water quality will be impacted by this rule should it go into affect.”

“We must pass HB 422 to put the initial safeguards in place to protect against these broad sweeping rollbacks of the Clean Water Act.”

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