The swampy and marshy areas so important to cleansing water and providing habitat for wildlife would be preserved or else be replaced when preservation was not deemed possible. Recently, the administration of President George Bush II kept faith with that promise. Environmental Protection Agency director Christine Todd Whitman announced that EPA would accept a Clinton administration rule intended to protect wetlands from destruction by developers. The rule had been scheduled to take effect last February, but the president imposed a 60-day freeze, then gave it the green light as the moratorium expired. It's a given that developers will challenge the rule in the courts, where they've won in the past.
Sprawl is too lucrative for exploiters to give it up without a fight.
But the Bush EPA scored points with the conservation movement. It's a welcome signal.