After decades of ambiguity and controversy, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson thinks it may be time for Congress to review and strengthen federal wetlands protections.

Speaking last week in Washington at a preview of a documentary about pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound, Jackson said because of Supreme Court decisions "there is murkiness" now about whether the EPA or states have any say over filling or draining many wetlands, which filter out pollution naturally.

"I do believe we need a legislative fix to clarify the jurisdiction issue," she said.  The nation is losing wetlands "at an alarming rate" to development, which next to agricultural pollution is one of the biggest threats to the nation's waters, including the Chesapeake, she added.

Jackson made her remarks at the National Press Club, where she and others got a sneak preview of "Poisoned Waters," a two-hour documentary that looks at the Chesapeake and at Puget Sound as examples of how the Clean Water Act has failed after more than 30 years to restore the nation's waters.  The film, by veteran journalist Hedrick Smith, airs on PBS on Frontline April 21.  I'll be reviewing it before it's shown, but you can see a trailer for it now here, and watch a Webcast of the preview last week by going here.

At last week's event, the new EPA chief assured the audience that "EPA is back on the job."  And she defended her agency's recent move to make hundreds of poultry growers on the Delmarva Peninsula apply for federal water-polllution permits.  She said the crackdown, which I wrote about a few weeks ago in The Baltimore Sun, should lead to significant changes in how farmers manage their chicken manure, not just more paperwork.  

"We don't take these lightly," she said, adding that "regulation without enforcement is fairly meaningless."