I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1356

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the jurisdiction 

of the United States over waters of the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2005

Mr. OBERSTAR (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. LEACH, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. 

BOEHLERT, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. WOLF, Mr. HONDA, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. FILNER, 

Mr. CASTLE, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DEFAZIO, 

Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. WEINER, Mr. CHANDLER, Ms. CARSON, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. 

CARNAHAN, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. SCHWARTZ of Pennsylvania, Mr. WALSH, 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. OWENS, Mr. SABO, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. 

MCNULTY, Mr. CASE, Ms. LEE, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. 

PAYNE, Ms. WATERS, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. LANGEVIN, 

Mr. ALLEN, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, 

Mr. GORDON, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. 

WOOLSEY, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. MORAN

of Virginia, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. HOLT, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. INSLEE, 

Mr. LEVIN, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mrs. 

LOWEY, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. FARR, Mr. KIND, Mr. 

RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. 

DOYLE, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. 

LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. MILLER of North 

Carolina, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. 

STARK, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. DAVIS of 

Alabama, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mrs. MCCARTHY, 

Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WU, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. 

STUPAK, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. 

ENGEL, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, 

Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, 

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. KANJORSKI, 
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and Ms. SOLIS) 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 clarify 

the jurisdiction of the United States over waters of the 

United States.

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 ‘‘Clean Water Authority 

5 Restoration Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 

8 (1) To reaffirm the original intent of Congress 

9 in enacting the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

10 Amendments of 1972 (86 Stat. 816) to restore and 

11 maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integ12 rity of the waters of the United States. 

13 (2) To clearly define the waters of the United 

14 States that are subject to the Federal Water Pollu15 tion Control Act. 

16 (3) To provide protection to the waters of the 

17 United States to the fullest extent of the legislative 

18 authority of Congress under the Constitution. 
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1 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Water is a unique and precious resource 

4 that is necessary to sustain human life and the life 

5 of animals and plants. 

6 (2) Water is used not only for human, animal, 

7 and plant consumption, but is also important for ag8 riculture, transportation, flood control, energy pro9 duction, recreation, fishing and shellfishing, and mu10 nicipal and commercial uses. 

11 (3) In enacting amendments to the Federal 

12 Water Pollution Control Act in 1972 and through 

13 subsequent amendment, including the Clean Water 

14 Act of 1977 (91 Stat. 1566) and the Water Quality 

15 Act of 1987 (101 Stat. 7), Congress established the 

16 national objective of restoring and maintaining the 

17 chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the wa18 ters of the United States and recognized that achiev19 ing this objective requires uniform, minimum na20 tional water quality and aquatic ecosystem protec21 tion standards to restore and maintain the natural 

22 structures and functions of the aquatic ecosystems 

23 of the United States. 

24 (4) Water is transported through inter25 connected hydrologic cycles, and the pollution, im26 pairment, or destruction of any part of an aquatic 
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1 system may affect the chemical, physical, and bio2 logical integrity of other parts of the aquatic system. 

3 (5) Protection of intrastate waters, along with 

4 other waters of the United States, is necessary to re5 store and maintain the chemical, physical, and bio6 logical integrity of all waters in the United States. 

7 (6) The regulation of discharges of pollutants 

8 into interstate and intrastate waters is an integral 

9 part of the comprehensive clean water regulatory 

10 program of the United States. 

11 (7) Small and periodically-flowing streams com12 prise the majority of all stream channels in the 

13 United States and serve critical biological and 

14 hydrological functions that affect entire watersheds, 

15 including reducing the introduction of pollutants to 

16 large streams and rivers, and especially affecting the 

17 life cycles of aquatic organisms and the flow of high18 er order streams during floods. 

19 (8) The pollution or other degradation of wa20 ters of the United States, individually and in the ag21 gregate, has a substantial relation to and effect on 

22 interstate commerce. 

23 (9) Protection of the waters of the United 

24 States, including intrastate waters, is necessary to 

25 prevent significant harm to interstate commerce and 
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1 sustain a robust system of interstate commerce in 

2 the future. 

3 (10) Waters, including wetlands, provide protec4 tion from flooding, and draining or filling wetlands 

5 and channelizing or filling streams, including intra6 state wetlands and streams, can cause or exacerbate 

7 flooding, placing a significant burden on interstate 

8 commerce. 

9 (11) Millions of people in the United States de10 pend on wetlands and other waters of the United 

11 States to filter water and recharge surface and sub12 surface drinking water supplies, protect human 

13 health, and create economic opportunity. 

14 (12) Millions of people in the United States 

15 enjoy recreational activities that depend on intra16 state waters, such as waterfowl hunting, bird watch17 ing, fishing, and photography and other graphic 

18 arts, and those activities and associated travel gen19 erate billions of dollars of income each year for the 

20 travel, tourism, recreation, and sporting sectors of 

21 the economy of the United States. 

22 (13) Activities that result in the discharge of 

23 pollutants into waters of the United States are com24 mercial or economic in nature. 
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1 (14) States have the responsibility and right to 

2 prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution of waters, 

3 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act re4 spects the rights and responsibilities of States by 

5 preserving for States the ability to manage permit6 ting, grant, and research programs to prevent, re7 duce, and eliminate pollution, and to establish stand8 ards and programs more protective of a State’s wa9 ters than is provided under Federal standards and 

10 programs. 

11 (15) Protecting the quality of and regulating 

12 activities affecting the waters of the United States 

13 is a necessary and proper means of implementing 

14 treaties to which the United States is a party, in15 cluding treaties protecting species of fish, birds, and 

16 wildlife. 

17 (16) Protecting the quality of and regulating 

18 activities affecting the waters of the United States 

19 is a necessary and proper means of protecting Fed20 eral land, including hundreds of millions of acres of 

21 parkland, refuge land, and other land under Federal 

22 ownership and the wide array of waters encompassed 

23 by that land. 

24 (17) Protecting the quality of and regulating 

25 activities affecting the waters of the United States 
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1 is necessary to protect Federal land and waters from 

2 discharges of pollutants and other forms of degrada3 tion. 

4 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

5 Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

6 Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended—

7 (1) by striking paragraph (7); 

8 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (8) through 

9 (23) as paragraphs (7) through (22), respectively; 

10 and 

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

12 ‘‘(23) WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES.—The 

13 term ‘waters of the United States’ means all waters 

14 subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial 

15 seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and 

16 their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (in17 cluding intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, 

18 wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, 

19 playa lakes, natural ponds, and all impoundments of 

20 the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters, 

21 or activities affecting these waters, are subject to the 

22 legislative power of Congress under the Constitu23 tion.’’. 
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1 SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

2 The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

3 1251 et seq.) is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘navigable waters of the United 

5 States’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘waters 

6 of the United States’’; 

7 (2) in section 304(l)(1) by striking ‘‘NAVIGABLE

8 WATERS’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘WATERS OF

9 THE UNITED STATES’’; and 

10 (3) by striking ‘‘navigable waters’’ each place it 

11 appears and inserting ‘‘waters of the United 

12 States’’.

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