Letter: Nature protected, homeowners not

Thursday, May 24, 2001 | 9:39 a.m.

At first I was so relieved to see George W. Bush get elected president in place of Vice President Al Gore. I thought that maybe the heavy tax burden would be lifted from businesses. I thought that progress could also be made by eliminating the ecological restraints that cause businesses and property ownership to fail.

Then I read in the New York Times that the Environmental Protection Agency announced on April 16 that it would "leave in place a Clinton administration rule that would expand protection for tens of thousands of acres of wetlands across the United States."

The rule, which had been challenged by the National Association of Homebuilders, requires that developers obtain permits under the Clean Water Act before digging artificial lakes, redirecting streams, or conducting certain other activities on tracts that are deemed "wetlands."

Across the nation, property owners have lost their homes because of whimsical bureaucratic wetland designations, and some of them have even been sent to prison.

The Times reported that within an hour of EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman's announcement, "the White House took the unusual step of issuing a statement that declared, in part, that President Bush 'applauds EPA administrator Whitman's decision to move forward with regulations to protect our wetlands.' "

I guess I have been suffering from a typical weakness attributed to conservatives: wishful thinking. I no longer suffer from that weakness.

FRANK PELTESON