I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1089
To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990
to provide that a single Federal agency shall be responsible for making
technical determinations with respect to wetland or converted wetland
on agricultural lands.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 24, 1993
Mr. BUNNING (for himself, Mr. EMERSON, Mr. PENNY, Mr. HANSE, Mr.
HERGER, Mr. SARPALIUS, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. STUMP, Mrs.
VUCANOVICH, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. CRANE, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. POMBO,
and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly
to the Committees on Agriculture and Public Works and Transportation
A BILL
To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade
Act of 1990 to provide that a single Federal agency
shall be responsible for making technical determinations
with respect to wetland or converted wetland on agricul-
tural lands.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wetlands Simplifica-
tion Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) technical determinations with respect to
wetland or converted wetland on agricultural lands
(including the identification of wetlands and the de-
velopment of wetland restoration and mitigation
plans) are currently made by—
(A) the Soil Conservation Service, in con-
sultation with the United States Fish and Wild-
life Service, to carry out subtitle C of title XII
of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C.
3821 et seq.); and
(B) the Secretary of the Army, acting
through the Chief of Engineers, to carry out
section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344);
(2) the system of separate determinations made
under such Acts has led to unnecessarily cum-
bersome and slow decisionmaking and to a lack of
consistency and unpredictable results in determina-
tions;
(3) the lack of consistency places substantial
burdens on private property owners that could be al-
leviated if responsibility for making the determina-
tions was carried out by one agency; and
(4) the Soil Conservation Service has a long
history of working with agricultural producers to
protect soil and water resources, has considerable
soils expertise, and has field personnel in almost
every county of the United States.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is to—
(1) provide that a single Federal agency shall
be responsible for making technical determinations
on agricultural lands with respect to wetland or con-
verted wetland (including the identification of wet-
land and the development of wetland restoration and
mitigation plans), in order to reduce confusion
among agricultural producers; and
(2) provide that the Soil Conservation Service,
in consultation with the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, shall be the Federal agency respon-
sible for all such technical determinations concerning
wetland and converted wetland on agricultural lands.
SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE WITH WETLAND CONSERVATION RE-
QUIREMENTS.
Section 1222(j) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16
U.S.C. 3822(j)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph:
‘‘(4) EFFECT OF DETERMINATIONS.—