Minnesota needs the Clean Water Restoration Act by Janette Brimmer and Dave Zentner Appearing in Rochester Post-Bulletin, Opinion section on 2007-06-14. Late last month, Congress took notice of something that more than 300 hunting, fishing, conservation and environmental groups have known for six years: water and wetlands protection has been disintegrating. So, Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar introduced, and 157 of his colleagues co-sponsored, the Clean Water Restoration Act. We think it's legislation that needs the support of the entire Minnesota delegation so it can be passed quickly. When Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, it clearly intended to protect and clean up the rivers and lakes of this nation, many of which were so dirty they no longer sustained fish, swimming or other uses. Congress also understood the need for the Act to be broadly applied; that the small creeks that flow into the larger rivers, even if only intermittently, or the wetlands that dot the landscape, contribute to keeping the larger water bodies clean. For many years, so did the nation's courts. Recently, some industrial polluters and developers, who never saw a wetland they didn't think could be improved by building a parking lot on it, decided the time was ripe to go to court. They argued that the Act didn't apply to some wetlands and streams and that they should be able to abuse them any way they saw fit even if they destroyed duck habitat or opened a pollution channel into larger water bodies. The U.S. Supreme Court seized the opportunity to take a whack at water protection that we had taken for granted. First in 2001, and again last year, the court ruled that the Act may no longer protect numerous wetlands, streams, rivers and lakes. The full extent of the damage from these decisions is not yet known, but earlier this week, the Bush administration issued new guidance that appears to expand on the Supreme Court's exclusion of many wetlands and streams from protection. And it appears the polluters are gathering their forces to push further. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated last year that nearly 60 percent of our nation's streams, creeks and rivers are of the type that are at risk of losing Clean Water Act protections. So are tens of millions of wetlands acres. Since the 2001 decision, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul office has refused to regulate about 1,000 cases of proposed dredging or filling in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Several involved large lakes and wetlands up to 300 acres, according to a National Wildlife Federation review of federal documents. Without restoring the Clean Water Act, Minnesota's $1.3 billion sport fishing industry and $99 million migratory bird hunting industry will be damaged. The Clean Water Restoration Act is not radical legislation. It simply returns the law to where it was for three decades. The congressional delegation from the "land of 10,000 lakes" (and even more wetlands) should not stand idly by and allow landmark clean water protections to recede into history. Urge your representative, as well as Senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar, to continue Minnesota's proud protection of waters and wetlands and support Rep. Oberstar's wise bill. Janette Brimmer is legal director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy in St. Paul. Dave Zentner is the past national president of the Izaak Walton League of America and lives in Duluth.

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