Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 9, Number 6 • November-December 2001
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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In June the Ohio General Assembly enacted Substitute House Bill 231 (HB 231), which severely erodes protections for almost half of Ohio’s remaining wetlands. That legislation came as a result of the January 9, 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision which found that the Clean Water Act did not apply to isolated wetlands (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or SWANCC). Isolated wetlands are those wetlands seemingly unconnected to other surface water such as a river or lake. HB 231, which also applies only to “isolated wetlands”, abolishes a process for developing these isolated wetlands. The previous rules, providing a three-step approach emphasizing wetland avoidance, then minimization of impact, and lastly mitigation, were eliminated.
The Ohio Legislature was not satisfied with sacrificing only “isolated wetlands” to development. A new bill, HB 320, has been introduced, and would allow the remaining wetlands in the state — the “connected wetlands” and waters of the state which were not addressed by the SWANCC decision — to be developed more easily.
Generally, under the process created in HB 320, a person seeking to dredge or fill a wetland or other water of the state must obtain an individual state dredge and fill permit or be covered by a general state dredge and fill permit. Negative impacts to wetlands resulting from the dredging or filling operations must be mitigated through conducting mitigation activities. The level of review for a permit, the criteria used to approve or disapprove a permit application, and the mitigation requirements for the dredging or filling of a wetland all depend on the size and category of wetland that is being impacted. HB 320 establishes three different categories of wetlands as well as public notice and participation requirements, fees, and requirements related to wetland mitigation banks.
HB 320 falls short in several areas:
1. It decreases the potential for public oversight and participation in the permit process.
2. It promotes mitigation instead of seeking other alternatives, a questionable approach given recent studies on the results of mitigation.
3. It makes it easier to justify wetland and stream destruction projects for development purposes.
4. As a statute, it would be more difficult to amend or modify than the current regulatory process, which now falls under the jurisdiction of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Find the bill via the webpage of the 124th Ohio General Assembly at: www.legislature.state.oh.us/.
For background about the shortcomings of mitigation, see Compensating for Wetland Losses Under the Clean Water Act, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy Press, Washington D.C., 2001.
The Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Nature Conservancy of Canada are embarking on a site conservation planning effort for the Western Lake Erie Islands and nearshore bedrock reef communities. The Western Lake Erie Islands were identified for significant aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity in the Great Lakes Basin ecoregion.
An initial meeting with conservation partners, held in November, began to address technical questions concerning ecological systems and ecological integrity. During the next year, TNC intends to identify the most pervasive stresses to the ecological systems of the islands and begin to formulate conservation strategies that they and local partners can address. Selection of conservation targets is underway. Stresses to these targets and the source of the stresses will be identified, followed by development of conservation strategies to abate critical threats and enhance the viability of the targets. Finally, success measures will monitor biodiversity health and threat levels to the targets.
In the continuing story of Sheldon Marsh in Erie County on Lake Erie, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency conducted an information session and public hearing in early December. The hearing was to accept comments on an application for a Clean Water Act Section 401 certification from Barnes Nursery in Huron, Ohio, adjacent to Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve. The company applied for the after-the-fact certification after it dredged and filled approximately 4.3 acres of wetlands under a rescinded U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit (NWP 27). The dredging created a channel that would provide approximately 300,000 gallons/day of irrigation water for the nursery. Ohio EPA is considering the technical, economic, social, and environmental aspects of the proposed project on the water quality conditions in Lake Erie and the wetlands of Sheldon Marsh.
John Ritzenthaler
Audubon Ohio
Serving as Hub for Ohio
692 N. High Street-#208
Columbus, OH 43215
(614)-224-3303
(614)-224-3305 (fax)
E-mail: jritzenthaler@audubon.org