REDWOOD NEEDLES

Presented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES

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Help protect streams and wetlands

Please send a letter today. Comments are due October 16th.

Developers are turning wetlands into strip malls, tract housing and golf courses. Mining companies are dredging streams for sand and gravel&emdash;all without any environmental review. Why? They are exploiting a 1998 court ruling that struck down the "Tulloch Rule" and opened a loophole in the Clean Water Act enabling developers and others to do various ditching, draining and excavating projects without even having to apply for a permit. Since the loophole opened, the EPA estimates developers and mining interests have drained and destroyed over 20,000 acres of wetlands, nationwide, and channelized more than 150 miles of streams all without any environmental review.

Wetlands serve as natural sponges, soaking up and filtering floodwaters. Destroying wetlands and streams harms our water quality, aggravates flooding, robs a wide array of birds, fish and wildlife of critical habitat and invites sprawling development in sensitive ecosystems. It is critically important that this new destruction be reined in.

The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have proposed a new regulation to limit the destructiveness of the loophole. It is very important that the Corps receive a broad show of SUPPORT for this proposal, since the mining interests, developers and other special interests are expected to fight hard for their broad exemption. The new regulation should be stronger, however, applying the full protection of wetlands and streams the Clean Water Act provides.

For more information, check the Sierra Club website at:

http://www.sierraclub.org/wetlands/tulloch. Questions, call Robin Mann, 610-527-4598.

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