By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has decided to put on hold for 30 days an agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers that would have begun to implement the president's campaign pledge to preserve wetlands.

'EPA and the Corps of Engineers will use the extension to allow for explanations and discussion with federal agencies that have raised concerns about the agreement," EPA said in a statement.

The memorandum of agreement, which was reached in early November and scheduled to take effect Friday, has caused a split within the administration. The departments of Energy and Transportation oppose the agreement and the Council on Environmental Quality and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration favor it.

"The extension is intended to clear up any misunderstandings about the purpose of the memorandum of agreement," the EPA statement said.

A spokesman for the Department of Interior denied earlier reports that the agreement had sparked an interagency fight between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Minerals Management Service.

Steven Goldstein said the Interior Department "speaks with one voice. We did not have an objection to the memorandum of agreement and indicated we would support the position of the White House. The only concerns we have are procedural."

Environmentalists have viewed the memorandum and the White House reaction to it as a "litmus test" of the administration's support for protecting wetlands.

Bush had promised during the campaign to implement a national goal of "no net loss" of wetlands.

In a letter to Bush on Thursday, the president of the National Wildlife Federation said the way in which the White House handled the EPA-Corps agreement "will demonstrate whether or not you are truly committed to a national wetland policy of no net loss.

"It really comes down to the 'L' word -- it's called leadership," wrote Jay Hair. "There is no middle ground on this one. It's either up or down."

The agreement has faced stiff criticism from the oil industry in Alaska and the Alaska congressional delegation, who fear if implemented it could disrupt oil and gas production on the North Slope and cripple that state's economy.

Alaskans maintain that more than 55 percent of their state could be classified as wetlands. Alaska Gov. Steve Cowper threatened to sue if the agreement wasn't changed.

In recent years, there has been growing concern about the disappearance of wetlands such as swamps, bogs, marshes and potholes on the Great Plains and tidal estuaries.

According to some estimates, as much as 400,000 acres of wetlands per year are being lost to residential, commercial and agricultural development.

Federal law requires that the Corps grant a permit before developers may put fill in most wetlands. EPA may challenge the decision and has certain veto powers over it, and the two agencies frequently had been at odds.

The Corps agreed in the memorandum to "strive to avoid adverse impacts and offset unavoidable adverse impacts to existing aquatic resources, and for wetlands, will strive to achieve a goal of no overall net loss of values and functions.

Under the agreement, permit applicants would first have to seek alternatives to disturbing wetlands and if none was available would have to work to minimize a project's impact on wetlands.

If the project would still cause significant harm, the applicant would have to compensate for the loss.