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April 15, 2003
Water
Docket
Environmental
Protection Agency
Mailcode
4101T
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington
,
DC
20460
Attention
Docket ID No. OW-2002-0050
To
Whom It May Concern:
The
Responsible Growth Management Coalition was founded in 1988 as a
response to growing concerns over the impact of burgeoning growth on the
environment of
Southwest Florida
. The RGMC is comprised of
local citizens who are interested in the overall longevity and the
health of our region. In the
nearly fifteen years since its inception the RGMC has been a vocal
proponent of environmental protection in
Southwest Florida
.
The
purpose of this letter is to provide information to the Environmental
Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the advanced
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on the Clean Water Act Regulatory
Definition of the “Waters of the
United States
” which was published in the Federal Register on
January 15, 2003
. The objective of the ANPRM
is, “to obtain early comment on issues associated with the scope of
waters that are subject to the Clean Water Act (CWA). In light of the
U.S.
Supreme Court decision in the Solid
Waste Agency of Norther Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 531
(2001) (SWANCC).” Further clarified, the Federal Government is seeking
input as to what wetlands shall be considered isolated and to what
extent isolated wetlands should be protected under the CWA.
The
RGMC clearly recognizes the importance of isolated wetlands in the
Southwest Florida
landscape. Decreased
protection for these wetlands could degrade our region’s natural
environment and our quality of life.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection recently
published its CWA Section 303(d) list of impaired waters in the Florida
Administrative Weekly. Included
on the impaired list were all the tributaries of
Estero
Bay
. Efforts to reduce the
scope of the CWA could significantly impact the impaired waters process
thereby impacting our local efforts to improve water quality in these
tributaries.
Careful
reading of the SWANCC decision outlines a very narrow ruling regarding
an abandoned mine pit that had not been used for nearly thirty years.
Natural wetlands are significant features that are found
throughout the
Southwest Florida
landscape. They provide
habitat for Federally endangered species such as the wood stork, the
provided recharge areas for
Southwest Florida
’s Strained aquifers and they allow the uptake of pollutants from our
human environment. Due to
the importance of isolated wetlands to our natural landscape we request
that all natural, isolated wetlands be protected under the Clean Water
Act.
Sincerely
Michael
Andoscia M.A.
President
RGMC
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