EPA accepts `wetlands' compromise // More land could be developed

WASHINGTON After months of infighting, the Bush administrationhas agreed on new criteria that would remove millions of acres ofland from protection as "wetlands" and open them to development,administration officials said Thursday.

Significant revisions to the official definition of wetlandswere accepted Tuesday evening by Environmental Protection AgencyAdministrator William K. Reilly.

Reilly had fought for a broader definition that would have comecloser to upholding conservationists' interpretation of PresidentBush's 1988 campaign pledge to achieve "no net loss" of wetlands.But he was outnumbered by White House officials, Cabinet officials and congressmen …