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tributary protection, and of defining dredging and filling activities." The 

 result had been "scattered judicial decisions [and] interpretive gyrations that 

 bear questionable relationship to congressional language." 167/ He said that an 

 important question for Congress to resolve was to what extent Federal regulation 

 of minor streams was desirable or necessary for achieving the purpose of the law. 



EPA Administrator Russell Train responded that protection of water quality 

 must encompass protection of interior wetlands and smaller streams in order to 

 preserve the multiple services performed by the wetland resources and to prevent 

 degradation of other aquatic resources downstream from such areas. 168 / 



Many of the bills introduced in the 94th Congress in response to the Corps' 

 regulatory proposal contained several common elements, including endorsement 

 and clarification of exemptions for normal farming, ranching, forestry, and con- 

 struction activities; and redefinition of "navigable waters" to restrict the 

 territorial jurisdiction of the dredge and fill regulatory program. 



During consideration of legislation to reauthorize the FWPCA, H.R. 9560, 

 the House Public Works and Transportation Committee adopted an amendment offered 

 by Representative Breaux to restrict the term "navigable waters" to include wa- 

 ters that presently are navigable for commercial transport or are capable of 

 being made navigable with reasonable improvement, i.e., the traditional legal 

 definition minus the concept of historic navigability. The Administration, 

 which opposed this proposal, estimated that the impact of its enactment would be 

 to leave up to 85 percent of the Nation's wetlands unregulated and unprotected. 169 / 



167 / Ibid., p. 34. 



168/ Ibid., p. 42. 



169 / U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Public Works and Transportation. 

 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1976; report to accompany H.R. 

 9560, including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office. (94th Cong. 

 2d sess. House. Report no. 94-1107). Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1976. 

 p. 71. 



