I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7023 

To amend section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to codify 

certain regulatory provisions relating to nationwide permits for dredged 

or fill material, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 17, 2024 

Mr. ROUZER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to codify certain regulatory provisions relating 

to nationwide permits for dredged or fill material, 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 ‘‘Nationwide Permitting 

5 Improvement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PERMITS FOR DREDGED OR FILL MATERIAL. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 404(e) of the Federal 

3 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘(e)(1) In carrying’’ and insert6 ing the following: 

7 ‘‘(e) GENERAL PERMITS ON STATE, REGIONAL, OR

8 NATIONWIDE BASIS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) PERMITS AUTHORIZED.—In carrying’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘(2) No general’’ and in12 serting the following: 

13 ‘‘(2) TERM.—No general’’; and 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘five years’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘ten years’’; and 

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

17 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining the en18 vironmental effects of an activity under paragraph 

19 (1) or (2), the Secretary shall consider only the ef20 fects of any discharge of dredged or fill material re21 sulting from such activity. 

22 ‘‘(4) NATIONWIDE PERMITS FOR LINEAR INFRA23 STRUCTURE PROJECTS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

25 other provision of this section, the Secretary 

26 shall maintain a general permit on a nationwide 


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1 basis for linear infrastructure projects that do 

not result in the loss of greater than 1 2 ⁄2-acre of 

3 waters of the United States for each single and 

4 complete project (as defined in section 330.2 of 

5 title 33, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef6 fect on the date of enactment of this para7 graph)). 

8 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF LINEAR INFRASTRUC9 TURE PROJECT.—In this paragraph, the term 

10 ‘linear infrastructure project’ means a project 

11 to carry out any activity required for the con12 struction, expansion, maintenance, modification, 

13 or removal of infrastructure and associated fa14 cility for the transmission from a point of origin 

15 to a terminal point of communications or elec16 tricity or the transportation from a point of ori17 gin to a terminal point of people, water, waste18 water, carbon dioxide, or fuel or hydrocarbons 

19 (in the form of a liquid, liquescent, gaseous, or 

20 slurry substance or supercritical fluid), includ21 ing oil and gas pipeline facilities. 

22 ‘‘(5) REISSUANCE OF NATIONWIDE PERMITS.— 

23 In determining whether to reissue a general permit 

24 issued under this subsection on a nationwide basis— 


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1 ‘‘(A) no consultation with an applicable 

2 State pursuant to section 6(a) of the Endan3 gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1535(a)) 

4 is required; 

5 ‘‘(B) no consultation with a Federal agen6 cy pursuant to section 7(a)(2) of such Act (16 

7 U.S.C. 1536(a)(2)) is required; and 

8 ‘‘(C) the requirements of section 102(2)(C) 

9 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 

10 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)) shall be satisfied 

11 by preparing an environmental assessment with 

12 respect to such general permit.’’. 

13 (b) ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONWIDE PERMIT PRO14 GRAM.—In carrying out section 404(e) of the Federal 

15 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344), the Sec16 retary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, 

17 may not finalize or implement any modification to— 

18 (1) general condition 15 (relating to single and 

19 complete projects), as included in the final rule titled 

20 ‘‘Reissuance and Modification of Nationwide Per21 mits’’ and published on January 13, 2021, by the 

22 Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers (86 

23 Fed. Reg. 2868); 


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1 (2) the definition of single and complete linear 

2 project, as included in such final rule (86 Fed. Reg. 

3 2877); or 

4 (3) the definition of single and complete 

5 project, as included in section 330.2 of title 33, Code 

6 of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of 

7 enactment of this Act). 

Æ 


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