Theft at the Public Till
diversity and absolutely nothing, about ecological value. All the definition talks about is wetness. If a piece of land gets wet and stays wet for more than a few weeks a year, then it’s a wetland. The Corps treats all lands that meet this definition the same regardless of their actual value to society. It makes little difference whether the area is a stagnant mosquito pond the size of a ping-pong table or acres of pristine cypress swamp. A wetland is a wetland. This one-size-fits-all approach to land use regulation often leads to perverse results. Take the next story I read about, of one John Piazza, pres- ident of Piazza Construction Co. “In 1991 Mr. Piazza obtained a local gov- ernment permit to build a mini storage facility on a seven-acre tract of land in Mount Vernon Wash. But before he could begin construction, wetlands were discovered on the site. Wetlands are technically defined as swamps bogs marshes or similar areas. Mr. Piazza’s wetlands supposedly fit into the last category. They were in three small sections and totaled less than an acre. In any case Mr. Piazza designed his facility so that its construction would affect only 0.18 of an acre of wetlands small enough for him to apply for one of the Corps exemptions known as a nationwide permit. The Corps had other ideas however. After several delays bureaucrats from the Corps visited the site and decided that the wetlands were adjacent to a water of the U.S. and thus not isolated as the nationwide permit demands. The Corps determined that Mr. Piazza would have to apply for an individual permit. This would require an extensive analysis of alternatives, an updated site plan, a mitigation plan, and consultation with two other federal agencies not to mention public notice and comment. As Mr. Piazza waited for his permit the Corps adopted a different manual for identifying wetlands. Under the new definition his wetlands added up to a mere 0.089 of an acre. But even this did not release Mr. Piazza from the Corps regulatory grip.” “To date he has spent more than $25,000 responding to the govern- ment’s efforts to preserve his wetlands. At an average cost of nearly $300,000 a wetland-acre this is costly conservation by any calculation. The current regulations as interpreted by the Army Corps of Engineers tend to treat every wetland as if it were a national treasure. During his three-year wait for a permit Mr. Piazza gave one of his U.S. senators a tour of his property in
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