Editors' Summary: Wetlands protection is at once one of the most important environmental needs as well as one in which the workings of federal environmental law are most intricate. Wetlands are fragile ecosystems that serve important roles in bringing together water, groundwater, soil, and the life that lives in and depends on this unique combination. The principal federal program to protect wetlands, §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, is almost Jeffersonian in its elaborate checks and balances, with roles for permit applicants, public commenters, the Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and ultimately the courts.

This Comment reviews the overall contours of the §404 program, focusing on EPA's role and ways in which it can be improved within the structure Congress has established. The Comment then analyzes key recent litigation, Bersani v. U.S. EPA, generally. Bersani, together with authority under the statute and regulations, points the way for effective EPA participation to help protect these critical ecosystems.