FEDERAL ECONOMIC PROGRAMS 

 CONTRIBUTE TO ESTUARINE 

 FRESHWATER INFLOW DEGRADATION 



Aside from industrial and muni- 

 cipal toxin problems, as the above 

 discussion points out, many of the 

 problems contributing to degradation 

 of the quantity and quality of 

 freshwater flows to estuaries are 

 a direct or indirect result of Fed- 

 eral economic programs — direct ap- 

 propriations, tax incentives and 

 economic regulation. Thus while 

 Federal regulatory programs, such 

 as 404 may be working to maintain 

 the quality and quantity of freshwa- 

 ter inflows, Federal water resources 

 development and other economic pro- 

 grams still contribute to the degra- 

 dation of those resources. 



Federal funds for navigation, 

 irrigation, flood control, water 

 supply and hydroelectric projects 

 directly subsidize modifications of 

 riverine systems in a manner which 

 typically affects estuaries. Fed- 

 eral subsidies in the form of tax 

 incentives, agricultural flood con- 

 trol, SCS engineering assistance, 

 price supports and other U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture programs to pro- 

 mote the clearing and drainage of 

 coastal flood plain wetland forests 

 and their conversion to cropland or 

 other non-forested uses. A com- 

 bination of Federal irrigation pro- 



10^ u a- 



For a comprehensive discussion 



of Federal subsidies in support of 

 the conversion of bottomland hard- 

 wood wetlands to agricultural use, 

 see L. Shabman, "Economic Incentives 

 for Bottomland Conversion: The Role 

 of Public Policy and Programs," 

 Transactions of the Forty-Fifth 

 North American Wildlife and Natural 

 Resources Conference (1980), pp. 402- 

 412. 



jects, particularly in the arid West 

 and Southwest, and Federal controls 

 on energy prices promote wasteful use 

 of fresh water for agriculture, with 

 contaminant downstream effects on 

 estuaries. Federal infrastructure 

 investments, such as those for 

 highways and sewers, still support 

 development in riverine flood plains. 

 Finally, Federal economic regulations 

 of railroads increases the cost of 

 rail transportation relative to barge 

 transportation and thus increases the 

 "demand" for Federal navigation 

 projects, although the Staggers Rail 

 Reform Act of 1980 (P.L. 96448) over 

 time should begin to rectify this 

 inequity. 



IDENTIFICATION OF ALTERNATIVE 



STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING ECONOMIC 



OBJECTIVES WHILE MAINTAINING 



FRESHWATER INFLOWS TO ESTUARIES 



Because Federal economic pro- 

 grams and policies play such a cru- 

 cial role in activities which alter 

 adversely freshwater flows to estu- 

 aries, reformation of those policies 

 is the single most important factor 

 in any national strategy to protect 

 estuarine resources through proper 

 management of the quality and 

 quantity of freshwater inflows. 

 Judicial strengthening of private and 

 public nuisance concepts to provide 

 for strict liability for private 

 polluters whose waste streams to 

 ground or surface waters degrade 

 estuaries is another important factor 

 in such a strategy. 



Continued degradation of the Na- 

 tion's renewable resource base which 

 supports its fisheries and shell- 

 fisheries should be deemed unaccept- 

 able in terms of national and global 



trends for such resources 



If this 



11 



See The Global 2000 Report to 



75 



