IB 

Union Calendar No. 5 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1152 

[Report No. 118–10] 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make changes with 

respect to water quality certification, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2023 

Mr. ROUZER (for himself and Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure 

MARCH 17, 2023 

Additional sponsor: Mr. PERRY

MARCH 17, 2023 

Reported from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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•HR 1152 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make 

changes with respect to water quality certification, and 

for other purposes. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
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•HR 1152 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Quality Certifi5 cation and Energy Project Improvement Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION. 

7 Section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

8 Act (33 U.S.C. 1341) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

11 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 

12 ‘‘may result’’ and inserting ‘‘may directly 

13 result’’; 

14 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 

15 ‘‘activity’’ and inserting ‘‘discharge’’; 

16 (iii) in the third sentence, by striking 

17 ‘‘applications’’ each place it appears and 

18 inserting ‘‘requests’’; 

19 (iv) in the fifth sentence, by striking 

20 ‘‘act on’’ and inserting ‘‘grant or deny’’; 

21 and 

22 (v) by inserting after the fourth sen23 tence the following: ‘‘Not later than 30 

24 days after the date of enactment of the 

25 Water Quality Certification and Energy 


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1 Project Improvement Act of 2023, each 

2 State and interstate agency that has au3 thority to give such a certification, and the 

4 Administrator, shall publish requirements 

5 for certification to demonstrate to such 

6 State, such interstate agency, or the Ad7 ministrator, as the case may be, compli8 ance with the applicable provisions of sec9 tions 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307. A deci10 sion to grant or deny a request for certifi11 cation shall be based only on the applicable 

12 provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, 

13 and 307, and the grounds for the decision 

14 shall be set forth in writing and provided 

15 to the applicant. Not later than 90 days 

16 after receipt of a request for certification, 

17 the State, interstate agency, or Adminis18 trator, as the case may be, shall identify in 

19 writing all specific additional materials or 

20 information that are necessary to grant or 

21 deny the request.’’; 

22 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (i) in the second sentence, by striking 

24 ‘‘notice of application for such Federal liVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Mar 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1152.RH H1152

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1 cense or permit’’ and inserting ‘‘receipt of 

2 a notice under the preceding sentence’’; 

3 (ii) in the third sentence, by striking 

4 ‘‘any water quality requirement’’ and in5 serting ‘‘any applicable provision of section 

6 301, 302, 303, 306, or 307’’; 

7 (iii) in the fifth sentence, by striking 

8 ‘‘insure compliance with applicable water 

9 quality requirements.’’ and inserting ‘‘en10 sure compliance with the applicable provi11 sions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 

12 307.’’; 

13 (iv) in the final sentence, by striking 

14 ‘‘insure’’ and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; and 

15 (v) by striking the first sentence and 

16 inserting ‘‘On receipt of a request for cer17 tification, the certifying State or interstate 

18 agency, as applicable, shall immediately 

19 notify the Administrator of the request.’’; 

20 (C) in paragraph (3), in the second sen21 tence, by striking ‘‘section’’ and inserting ‘‘any 

22 applicable provision of section’’; 

23 (D) in paragraph (4)— 

24 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 

25 ‘‘applicable effluent limitations or other 


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1 limitations or other applicable water qual2 ity requirements will not be violated’’ and 

3 inserting ‘‘no applicable provision of sec4 tion 301, 302, 303, 306, or 307 will be vio5 lated’’; 

6 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 

7 ‘‘will violate applicable effluent limitations 

8 or other limitations or other water quality 

9 requirements’’ and inserting ‘‘will directly 

10 result in a discharge that violates an appli11 cable provision of section 301, 302, 303, 

12 306, or 307,’’; and 

13 (iii) in the third sentence, by striking 

14 ‘‘such facility or activity will not violate the 

15 applicable provisions’’ and inserting ‘‘oper16 ation of such facility or activity will not di17 rectly result in a discharge that violates 

18 any applicable provision’’; and 

19 (E) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘the ap20 plicable provisions’’ and inserting ‘‘any applica21 ble provision’’; 

22 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘any applica23 ble effluent limitations and other limitations, under 

24 section 301 or 302 of this Act, standard of perform25 ance under section 306 of this Act, or prohibition, 


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1 effluent standard, or pretreatment standard under 

2 section 307 of this Act, and with any other appro3 priate requirement of State law set forth in such 

4 certification, and’’ and inserting ‘‘the applicable pro5 visions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307, and 

6 any such limitations or requirements’’; and 

7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(e) For purposes of this section, the applicable pro9 visions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307 are any 

10 applicable effluent limitations and other limitations, under 

11 section 301 or 302, standard of performance under section 

12 306, prohibition, effluent standard, or pretreatment stand13 ard under section 307, and requirement of State law im14 plementing water quality criteria under section 303 nec15 essary to support the designated use or uses of the receiv16 ing navigable waters.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 5 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1152 

[Report No. 118–10] 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

certification, and for other purposes. to make changes with respect to water quality 

MARCH 17, 2023 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS