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Developers rush to build in wetlands after ruling Fri Dec 6, 9:57 AM ET By Traci Watson, USA TODAY MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Thousands of acres of wetlands across the country are being bulldozed or filled with dirt because of a 2001 Supreme Court decision that stripped them of federal protection. Millions of acres more are still vulnerable. When these swamps and bogs vanish, so does their capacity for preventing floods, cleansing water of pollutants and sheltering waterfowl and fish. The wetlands singled out in the court decision are 'isolated,' that is, no channel connects them to a larger body of water. Wetlands are too unstable to support heavy structures. So a developer must fill a wetland with dirt, destroying it, before building on top of it. Many of these isolated wetlands are located in rapidly growing areas of the country. Developers, who want to build houses and shopping centers, say that federal officials too often consider ditches and other small areas to be isolated wetlands and that these are not that valuable to the environment.....
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