Federal regulators recognize state's unique wetlands status.

• Author: Reinwand, Debbie
• Position: Alaska

Private landowners, community leaders and businesses in Alaska are hailing the recent signing of an exemption that allows wetlands permits to be issued in the 49th state without the threat of expensive mitigation.

The new rule, signed October 30 by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Reilly, is the result of three years of intensive lobbying and educational efforts by Alaska communities, Native corporations, the congressional delegation and the Alaska Wetlands Coalition (AWC). The proposal allows any state that has used less than 1 percent of its wetlands to pursue permits without having to mitigate or pay into a fund in order to secure a permit. It will be open to public comment through mid-December.

The Alaska Wetlands Coalition, spearheaded by the Resource Development Council, has been working with the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress to solve the dilemma faced by Alaska communities, private landowners and others under the "no net loss of wetlands" policy put forward in late 1989.

More than 45 percent of Alaska's land base is classified as wetlands by federal regulatory agencies, yet less than one-tenth of 1 percent has been utilized for all development in the state. The vastness of the state's wetlands, combined with stringent federal regulations that oversee wetlands use, has made it extremely difficult for communities to pursue needed expansion projects.

"This policy that requires mitigation is a hardship for small towns," said Nome Mayor John Handeland. "We do our best to minimize impacts on wetlands and avoid using them, but the fact is, we're surrounded by wetlands. To tell a town like Nome they have to mitigate or pay to complete a community project that they've already put construction costs into is just insane."

Under the provisions of the Clean Water Act, a prospective permittee seeking permission to utilize a wetland had to go through four steps in order to receive approval. The steps included avoiding the wetland if possible, minimizing impacts, restoration work where applicable, and mitigation. The new guideline issued by Reilly removes the mitigation requirement for Alaska, because more than 99 percent of the state's wetlands are undisturbed.

"I think that is the key here -- we have not touched the vast majority of our wetlands," says Paula Easley, special assistant to Anchorage Mayor Tom Fink. Easley and Fink have worked closely with the AWC for the past three years. "Nobody wants to develop...