A wetland-ish proposal

A wetland-ish proposal

In the article ''New Wetlands Proposal Wets Developers' Lips,'' July 31, the author quotes Michael Luzier of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington as saying, ''What the environmental community likes to argue is that we ought to let the scientists decide what a wetland is. We think elected officials ought to make that decision.''

This statement, however, fails to take into account one extremely important fact: A wetland, just like an ocean, is a region of the earth that has a fixed scientific definition, not one that can be legislated.

What Mr. Luzier proposes - a legislative rewrite of science - should not be an option in today's world.

Peter Harrell Atlanta