I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1152 

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 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make 

changes with respect to water quality certification, and 

for other purposes. 

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)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

2 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 

3 ‘‘may result’’ and inserting ‘‘may directly 

4 result’’; 

5 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 

6 ‘‘activity’’ and inserting ‘‘discharge’’; 

7 (iii) in the third sentence, by striking 

8 ‘‘applications’’ each place it appears and 

9 inserting ‘‘requests’’; 

10 (iv) in the fifth sentence, by striking 

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

12 and 

13 (v) by inserting after the fourth sen14 tence the following: ‘‘Not later than 30 

15 days after the date of enactment of the 

16 Water Quality Certification and Energy 

17 Project Improvement Act of 2023, each 

18 State and interstate agency that has au19 thority to give such a certification, and the 

20 Administrator, shall publish requirements 

21 for certification to demonstrate to such 

22 State, such interstate agency, or the Ad23 ministrator, as the case may be, compli24 ance with the applicable provisions of sec25 tions 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307. A deciVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1152.IH H1152

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1 sion to grant or deny a request for certifi2 cation shall be based only on the applicable 

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

4 and 307, and the grounds for the decision 

5 shall be set forth in writing and provided 

6 to the applicant. Not later than 90 days 

7 after receipt of a request for certification, 

8 the State, interstate agency, or Adminis9 trator, as the case may be, shall identify in 

10 writing all specific additional materials or 

11 information that are necessary to grant or 

12 deny the request.’’; 

13 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

14 (i) in the second sentence, by striking 

15 ‘‘notice of application for such Federal li16 cense or permit’’ and inserting ‘‘receipt of 

17 a notice under the preceding sentence’’; 

18 (ii) in the third sentence, by striking 

19 ‘‘any water quality requirement’’ and in20 serting ‘‘any applicable provision of section 

21 301, 302, 303, 306, or 307’’; 

22 (iii) in the fifth sentence, by striking 

23 ‘‘insure compliance with applicable water 

24 quality requirements.’’ and inserting ‘‘en25 sure compliance with the applicable proviVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1152.IH H1152

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1 sions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 

2 307.’’; 

3 (iv) in the final sentence, by striking 

4 ‘‘insure’’ and inserting ‘‘ensure’’; and 

5 (v) by striking the first sentence and 

6 inserting ‘‘On receipt of a request for cer7 tification, the certifying State or interstate 

8 agency, as applicable, shall immediately 

9 notify the Administrator of the request.’’; 

10 (C) in paragraph (3), in the second sen11 tence, by striking ‘‘section’’ and inserting ‘‘any 

12 applicable provision of section’’; 

13 (D) in paragraph (4)— 

14 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 

15 ‘‘applicable effluent limitations or other 

16 limitations or other applicable water qual17 ity requirements will not be violated’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘no applicable provision of sec19 tion 301, 302, 303, 306, or 307 will be vio20 lated’’; 

21 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 

22 ‘‘will violate applicable effluent limitations 

23 or other limitations or other water quality 

24 requirements’’ and inserting ‘‘will directly 

25 result in a discharge that violates an appliVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1152.IH H1152

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1 cable provision of section 301, 302, 303, 

2 306, or 307,’’; and 

3 (iii) in the third sentence, by striking 

4 ‘‘such facility or activity will not violate the 

5 applicable provisions’’ and inserting ‘‘oper6 ation of such facility or activity will not di7 rectly result in a discharge that violates 

8 any applicable provision’’; and 

9 (E) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘the ap10 plicable provisions’’ and inserting ‘‘any applica11 ble provision’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘any applica13 ble effluent limitations and other limitations, under 

14 section 301 or 302 of this Act, standard of perform15 ance under section 306 of this Act, or prohibition, 

16 effluent standard, or pretreatment standard under 

17 section 307 of this Act, and with any other appro18 priate requirement of State law set forth in such 

19 certification, and’’ and inserting ‘‘the applicable pro20 visions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307, and 

21 any such limitations or requirements’’; and 

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

23 ‘‘(e) For purposes of this section, the applicable pro24 visions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307 are any 

25 applicable effluent limitations and other limitations, under 


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1 section 301 or 302, standard of performance under section 

2 306, prohibition, effluent standard, or pretreatment stand3 ard under section 307, and requirement of State law im4 plementing water quality criteria under section 303 nec5 essary to support the designated use or uses of the receiv6 ing navigable waters.’’. 

Æ 


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