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these trends have stimulated consideration of a variety of wetland legislative 

 proposals. 



Congressional interest has taken three general forms, addressed in the 

 policy issues in Chapter I. First, Federal legislation has treated wetlands 

 as a water pollution question; the goal of section 404, which requires permits 

 for all dredge and fill activities in navigable waters of the United States, 

 is to maintain or improve water quality. Wetlands are protected from the 

 two direct alterations, dredging and filling, that are associated with water 

 pollution under the Clean Water Act; but many questions have been raised 

 by this approach. 



Second, the geographic coverage of the section 404 provision in wetland 

 areas has been of high concern. More than 45 bills have been introduced in 

 the past four sessions to change the definition of wetlands that are subject 

 to the 404 provision. Even now, after several years of congressional debate, 

 legislative reauthorization, and a number of judicial decisions, major inter- 

 agency battles are still being fought over the wetlands definition. For ex- 

 ample, the Corps of Engineers, EPA, and the Fish and Wildlife Service are still 

 debating which areas of bottomland hardwoods should be defined as wetlands 

 for purposes of the section 404 program. 164 / 



Third, Congress has addressed wetlands both as a generic issue and site- 

 specifically. In each session, legislation has been introduced to consider 

 a number of refuge and other site-protection proposals. At the same time, leg- 

 islative proposals that would look at all wetlands as single resource category 

 have been offered. Table 4 identifies topical categories of proposed legis- 

 lation under consideration over the past five Congresses (1973-1982). 



164/ Clark, John and Jay Benforado, eds . Report on a Bottomland Hardwood 

 Wetlands Workshop. Washington, National Wetlands Technical Council, 1978. p. i-v. 





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