Editors' Summary: The Corps of Engineers has historically had the unenviable task of making water resource project decisions knowing that any decision, for or against development of a project, will be criticized by the interests that lose out. Congress, currently in the process of reauthorizing the FWPCA, is in the throes of deciding whether the Corps' wetlands delineation manual and mitigation policies should be revised. That Congress, and other interested parties, have become so interested in the Corps' growing environmental protection efforts is at the heart of this Article. The authors, both of whom are counsel for the House Public Works and Transportation Committee's Subcommittee on Water Resources, explore how the Corps has come to have an environmental protection ethic in its regulatory role and civil works water resources projects. The Article analyzes the Corps' traditional role, how the congressional authorization process has altered the Corps' direction regarding environmental protection over time, and the evolution of water resources development acts (WRDAs). The Article focuses on the importance of WRDA 1986's administrative developments, which provided momentum for the Corps to emphasize environmental protection. The Article tracks the two-year WRDA cycle, concluding with WRDA 1990, which provided the Corps with a new environmental protection mission and wetlands and habitat protection requirements. The Article concludes with prospects for the Corps' new role.