Beating Around the Bush
Two Acres Forward, Three Acres Back

Last fall, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a new permitting scheme for six coastal Mississippi counties that would allow developers to destroy up to five acres of non-tidal wetlands and waters per development project. They claimed the change was needed to address the urgent redevelopment needs of coastal Mississippi in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Their logic was flawed. Allowing developers to destroy wetlands would increase flooding and put everyone at increased risk. Thanks to an outcry from members of the threatened communities and nationwide effort by wetlands activists - including 7,500 written comments – the Bush administration abandoned the proposal.

The Corps went back to the drawing board, but didn’t learn a thing. This spring the Corps released their revised proposal: allowing the destruction of up to three acres of wetlands for construction or expansion of development projects. The Corps added some additional conditions to their proposal, for instance, carving out the already severely flood prone Turkey Creek watershed as off limits, and prohibiting destruction for recreational purposes or in the 100-year floodplain. However, the revised plan remains grossly illogical and downright dangerous. Protection for wetlands in flood impacted areas should be strengthened, not weakened. The Corps has shirked their responsibility to protect the public again. Waterkeeper Alliance is urging the Corps to withdraw their proposed plan and put the people first.