Ping Pong Ball Saves NY Wetland

A floating ping pong ball and the threat of a lawsuit convinced the Army Corps of Engineers that a small wetland in New York State qualifies for federal protection.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer threatened to sue in November after the corps said a proposed housing project near the 19-acre wetland in Lysander was not subject to the Clean Water Act since the swamp did not drain into a large body of water covered by the law. On Thursday, the corps reversed its stance, after a ping pong ball that Spitzer's staff placed in the wetland floated to the Seneca River. http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/jan/jan20b_05.html

January 21, 2005, Associated Press