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Daily Real Estate News | December 27, 2002
U.S. Adopts New Wetlands Replacement Rules
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials on Thursday unveiled a 17-point plan on wetlands preservation that marks a change in focus for the federal government, which since 1989 has been trying to reduce damage from lost wetlands with a "no net loss" replacement policy.
Under the new plan, the goal remains a no net loss of wetlands, but the focus will be on replacing wetlands with higher quality wetlands than have been developed in the past.
The shift in focus comes on the heels of criticism from the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. General Accounting Office, which say that many wetlands replacement projects are failures and are not adequately monitored.
[Ed. note: NAR supports government policies that would ensure that appropriate scientific criteria are used to identify regulated areas, focus on preserving high value wetlands, require that local officials and affected property owners be notified of the program and the presence of wetlands, and encourage the use of wetlands mitigation banking.]
Source: Associated Press (12/27/02); Heilprin, John
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