There are many
federal, state and local laws that are intended
to protect and conserve wetlands. Many lawmakers
have learned that people are dependent on the ecosystem
as much as plants and animals are, and need the
benefits that wetlands provide such as pollution
protection and flood control. Some lawmakers understand
the important role wetlands play in providing for
diversity of plants and animals in the ecosystem.
A few would even choose the aesthetic beauty of
a wetland over its “development.”
Federal, state and local regulations
provide for the agencies and procedures to execute
the laws. Agencies of all levels of government
issue permits for activities that destroy or
despoil wetlands. The underlying premise of permitting
is that the economic advantages of the permitted
activities outweigh their costs to the environment.
Usually, the only parties to the permitting process
are the permit applicant (usually a developer
or homeowner) and regulatory agency staff member.
The regulators are burdened by having two conflicting
objectives: to protect the environment and to
serve the permit applicant. It is easy to see
that, with the permit applicant pushing hard
for his permit, environmental protection can
suffer. In addition, there are political pressures
on regulators to issue permits expeditiously.
Without advocacy, the regulatory
system is like a stool with two legs. It cannot
fulfill its function, which is to balance individual
property rights with the community’s right
to a healthy environment. So, the “third
leg of the stool” is advocacy. The regulatory
system is set up to be adversarial. While this
may seem unfortunate, it is the way it is. The
regulatory system best protects environmental
interests when the regulator is pressed by the
applicant on one hand and the environmental advocate
on the other. Unless wetlands advocates are willing
to engage the wetlands regulatory system, the
system cannot adequately protect wetlands.
NOTE: This website focuses on advocacy for Virginia
wetlands. But the information presented here
can be helpful to wetlands advocates in other
states as well.
Strategies for Wetlands Advocacy
Effective advocacy for wetlands protection involves
two different kinds of activity:
1. presenting well-timed and well-informed
criticism of permit applications to permitting
agencies.
2. organizing grassroots resistance to wetlands-disturbing activities |
To be effective, wetlands advocates need to know what wetlands disturbing
activities are being planned and what to do about them. Here are the
basics:
| LEARN WHAT’S
GOING ON |
- Know where the wetlands
are in your community.
- Look out for wetlands
disturbing activities in you neighborhood.
- Read “public
notices” and “legal
announcements” of local and state
agencies in your daily paper and watch
the website of the local Corps of Engineers
District Office to learn about plans
that would harm wetlands in your area.
NOTE: you will probably have only two
to four weeks to submit your comment
on the application!
|
| GET INVOLVED |
First, keep an eye
out for wetlands-disturbing activities
- Call your local
Wetlands Board if you see or hear of
wetlands being destroyed or threatened
by excavation, dredging or filling;
construction, drainage or ditching;
or accumulation of trash or debris.
- Inquire about the
wetlands-disturbing activity that you
are concerned about at the local DEQ,
VMRC or Corps of Engineers office.
- Decide whether or
not to act further based on the apparent
nature and extent of the wetlands impact.
If there is no permit application on
file, and wetlands have already been
destroyed or damaged, an environmental
crime has likely occurred. Report it
to your city or county attorney’s
office.
Evaluate and critique the permit
application
- Review and evaluate the
permit application, if there is one.
For activities that would directly
disturb either tidal or non-tidal wetlands
or shallow water habitat, the permit
application is submitted on a form
called the “Joint
Permit Application” (JPA)
to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission
(VMRC). This one form is used to process
the application by the local, state
and federal regulatory agencies. For
most tidal wetlands-disturbing activities
a permit from some or all of the following
agencies is required: U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, Virginia Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ), Virginia
Marine Resources Commission (VMRC)
and the local Wetlands Board. For disturbance
of non-tidal wetlands, contact the
Corps of Engineers or the Virginia
Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ). DEQ is empowered to grant permits
for impacts to non-tidal wetlands.
- Determine if the
application is complete and accurate.
You are entitled by law to inspect
applications and supporting documents
such as maps, drawings and related
correspondence. The regulatory agency
staff should be willing to meet with
you and answer your questions about
the application and about the nature
and extent of the proposed wetlands
impacts. Use the Freedom of Information
Act if to obtain documents if the staff
will not make copies for you.
- Ask the Wetlands
Board staff if they think the project
is consistent with:
1. the local Wetlands Ordinance
2. Virginia’s Wetlands Guidelines, Subaqueous
Guidelines or Shoreline 3. Development BMP’s
(best management practices), as applicable
4. the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, if applicable
5. the federal and state policy of “no net
loss” of wetlands acreage and functions
- Evaluate the project
for its cumulative impact on
wetlands acreage and functions and
for its success in avoiding, minimizing
and compensating for wetlands
impacts. Seek help with this from environmental
organizations like Wetlands Watch,
Sierra Club, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
and Audubon Society as well as from
state and federal “resource
agencies.” Reading the VIMS
Shoreline Application Permit Report on
the application may help you decide
if you should intervene.
- Determine whether
the proposed wetlands losses are justified
by any economic benefits.
Stand up and be counted
- Attend Wetlands
Board hearings and speak to protest
unnecessary wetlands impacts
by homeowners and contractors. Use facts, not feelings, to support
your position. If you give your opinion, support it with facts
or expert authority. Provide a written version of your presentation
to the board for the record, ahead of time if possible.
- Send written comments
to the Corps of Engineers (in Virginia,
usually the Norfolk District), the
Virginia Department of Environmental
Quality and the Virginia Marine Resource
Commission in response to their public
notices on projects you are interested
in. Remember, most wetlands disturbing
activities require permits from all
these agencies.
- Appeal the decision
of the local Wetlands Board if you
believe that it has committed an error
in granting a permit. Appeals are made
to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission
(VMRC). The appeal petition must be
submitted within 10 days of the decision
and requires the signatures of 25 owners
of property in the locality of the
permitted project. VMRC can modify
the decision, send it back to the Wetlands
Board for further consideration or
reverse it. Appeals have a chance of
success if it can be shown that the
board acted without any rational basis,
the decision was not supported by the
evidence, or the permit violates the
wetlands protection goals of the Wetlands
Protection Act.
Follow up with the
board during and after the project, if
the permit is issued, to determine
if the general and special conditions
of the permit have been met.
Keep a record of your
interventions by locality, the extent
of wetlands impacts,
and wetlands acreage and functions preserved.
|
| JOIN WITH OTHERS |
- Tell your friends
and neighbors about your concern for
wetlands protection. Let them know about
wetlands disturbing activities. Ask them
to accompany you to Wetlands Board hearings
for moral support.
- Let your elected
representatives know of your concern
for wetlands protection.
- Use the media: write
letters to the editor of your local newspaper;
call the newspaper’s environmental
reporter; send the paper notices of your
group’s meetings or rallies.
- Join Wetlands Watch
and other environmental organizations
to add your voice to the growing wetlands
advocacy movement. The political landscape
in Virginia is pro-business and pro-development.
To stop large-scale destruction of wetlands
from development, mass action is often
necessary.
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