Congressman's interventions, at-a-glance

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Here's a look at involvement by U.S. Rep. Doug Ose and his Government Reform Subcommittee in five California environmental cases and the national policy debate:

July 2001: The Republican from Sacramento raises questions about water regulations in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman.

October 2001: Ose asks the California regional EPA administrator to explain how the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers ``avoid unnecessary delays in the permitting process'' for developments affecting wetlands.

November 2001: Ose contests regional EPA officials' wetlands designation for a portion of the 178-acre Stock Ranch in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights. Backers of a retail development there, who gave Ose's campaigns at least $14,250, proposed to destroy 13 vernal pools and a tributary to Arcade Creek.

December 2001: Ose meets in his Washington, D.C., office with officials from Genentech Inc. and Vacaville. Genentech's treated wastewater flows into Old Alamo Creek and eventually into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Genentech gave Ose's political campaigns $5,500 and helped retire his early campaign debt.

January 2002: Ose meets with the regional EPA administrator on behalf of Genentech and the Stock Ranch development.

August 2002: Ose visits and subsequently questions regional EPA officials about three more aquatic resource designations:

Granite Construction Co. The EPA found the company's proposal for a gravel and gold mining operation would do the most damage to Morrison Creek and Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge of any of the available alternatives. The company gave Ose $3,000 and the president of the affiliated Granite Land Co. gave another $750.

Del Webb's Sun City Lincoln Hills: The 390-acre expansion would wipe out 15 acres of wetlands and vernal pools, the EPA said. The company's political action committee gave Ose $2,000.

Sunrise-Douglas community: Developers seek to build 6,359 new homes on 1,259 acres in Rancho Cordova, despite concerns over wetlands and water for the community. They gave Ose at least $6,150.

September 2002: Subcommittee hears testimony on a January 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the federal government's jurisdiction over nonnavigable waterways.

January 2003: Bush administration begins re-evaluating Clean Water Act protections for isolated, intrastate, non-navigable wetlands based on that court decision.

February 2003: Ose asks Congress' nonpartisan General Accounting Office to study the federal government's jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.

May 2003: Ose rules out a bid for the U.S. Senate next year.

Source: EPA correspondence, campaign disclosure records.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)