The Clean Water Act 404 Program in Alaska- An EPA Perspective

Many development interests and some government officials argue that the Clean Water Act §404 dredge and fill permit program does not account for the uniqueness of Alaska's economic and natural environment. They cite to the State's vast expanse of wetlands and may presume that the value of the aquatic resource is limited by virtue of its gross availability. These interests also point to the general lack of resource baseline data and claim that Agency use of more generalized information "does not account for local variability in the Alaska environment." Unfortunately, there are examples of water quality and habitat deterioration in Anchorage, Juneau, and Prudhoe Bay that are commensurate with aquatic resource perturbations observed "outside" of Alaska. Fortunately, the §404 program management tools developed "outside" provide Region 10 of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the flexibility needed to resolve the range of wetland problems in Alaska.