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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3270 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3270

   To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to exempt Indian 
  tribes from compensatory mitigation requirements in connection with 
certain discharges of dredged or fill material, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2015

 Mr. Young of Alaska 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 exempt Indian 
  tribes from compensatory mitigation requirements in connection with 
certain discharges of dredged or fill material, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. EXEMPTION FROM COMPENSATORY MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(u) Indian Tribes.--
            ``(1) Exemption from compensatory mitigation 
        requirements.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an 
        Indian tribe that applies for a permit for a permitted activity 
        to be conducted on Indian land shall not be required to provide 
        any form of compensatory mitigation as a condition of the 
        permit.
            ``(2) Evaluation of indian tribe permit application.--In 
        evaluating a permit application submitted by an Indian tribe to 
        carry a permitted activity to be conducted on Indian land, the 
        Secretary may not take into account the nonavailability of 
        compensatory mitigation pursuant to the exemption provided by 
        paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Situations in which indian tribe ceases to maintain 
        permitted activity.--If an Indian tribe described in paragraph 
        (1) ceases to maintain the permitted activity on Indian land, 
        or seeks to abandon such an activity without a good faith 
        transfer, the Indian tribe shall obtain a permit modification 
        from the Secretary, which may require restoration and 
        rehabilitation of the area.
            ``(4) Limitation on statutory construction.--The exemption 
        from compensatory mitigation requirements provided by paragraph 
        (1) may not be construed to affect the applicability of any 
        other requirement under this Act to an Indian tribe or Indian 
        land, including requirements to avoid and minimize adverse 
        impacts to wetlands, streams, and other aquatic resources.
            ``(5) Definitions.--In this subsection, the following 
        definitions apply:
                    ``(A) Indian land.--The term `Indian land' means 
                land owned by, operated by, or otherwise belonging to 
                an Indian tribe.
                    ``(B) Indian tribe.--The term `Indian tribe' means 
                any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized 
                group or community, including any Alaska Native village 
                or regional or village corporation as defined in or 
                established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims 
                Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), which is 
                recognized as eligible for the special programs and 
                services provided by the United States to Indians 
                because of their status as Indians.
                    ``(C) Permitted activity.--The term `permitted 
                activity' means a discharge of dredged or fill material 
                for which a permit is issued under this section.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to permits issued under section 404 of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>
```