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a consensus on wetlands policy issues. The group was convened by the White House 

 Office on Environmental Policy in June and included nine agencies: the Environmental 

 Protection Agency (EPA), the Army Corps of Engineer (Corps), the Office of 

 Management and Budget (OMB), and the Departments of Agriculture (USD A), 

 Commerce, Energy, Interior, Justice, and Transportation. In addition to interagency 

 discussion, the Working Group solicited the views of a broad range of stakeholders 

 representing all perspectives in the wetlands debate, including members of Congress, 

 representatives of State and local government, environmental interests, the 

 development communrty, agricultural interests, and scientists. With this information 

 in mind, the group met intensively over many hours to develop a package of more 

 than forty specific initiatives. The result is a significantly revised federal wetlands 

 policy that provides fairness, flexibility, and predictability to landowners, farmers and 

 others, while also ensuring more effective protection of our Nation's wetlands. 



President^Clinton's Plan 



The Clinton Plan includes both regulatory improvements and innovative, non- 

 regulatory approaches to protect and restore wetlands. It incluBes administrative 

 actions, some of which took effect immediately and others that will begin during the 

 coming months. It also includes legislative recommendations for Congress to consider 

 during reauthorization of the CWA. 



At this time, we would, like to highlight some specific elements of the policy. 

 A guiding principle in formulating the policy was to exercise strong federal leadership 



