Water Quality Certification and Energy Project Improvement Act of 2023

Subjects: Environmental Protection, Administrative law and regulatory procedures, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environmental regulatory procedures, Licensing and registrations, State and local government operations, Water quality


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1152 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Water Quality Certification and 
Energy Project Improvement Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION.

    Section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1341) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in the first sentence, by striking 
                        ``may result'' and inserting ``may directly 
                        result'';
                            (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 
                        ``activity'' and inserting ``discharge'';
                            (iii) in the third sentence, by striking 
                        ``applications'' each place it appears and 
                        inserting ``requests'';
                            (iv) in the fifth sentence, by striking 
                        ``act on'' and inserting ``grant or deny''; and
                            (v) by inserting after the fourth sentence 
                        the following: ``Not later than 30 days after 
                        the date of enactment of the Water Quality 
                        Certification and Energy Project Improvement 
                        Act of 2023, each State and interstate agency 
                        that has authority to give such a 
                        certification, and the Administrator, shall 
                        publish requirements for certification to 
                        demonstrate to such State, such interstate 
                        agency, or the Administrator, as the case may 
                        be, compliance with the applicable provisions 
                        of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307. A 
                        decision to grant or deny a request for 
                        certification shall be based only on the 
                        applicable provisions of sections 301, 302, 
                        303, 306, and 307, and the grounds for the 
                        decision shall be set forth in writing and 
                        provided to the applicant. Not later than 90 
                        days after receipt of a request for 
                        certification, the State, interstate agency, or 
                        Administrator, as the case may be, shall 
                        identify in writing all specific additional 
                        materials or information that are necessary to 
                        grant or deny the request.'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in the second sentence, by striking 
                        ``notice of application for such Federal 
                        license or permit'' and inserting ``receipt of 
                        a notice under the preceding sentence'';
                            (ii) in the third sentence, by striking 
                        ``any water quality requirement'' and inserting 
                        ``any applicable provision of section 301, 302, 
                        303, 306, or 307'';
                            (iii) in the fifth sentence, by striking 
                        ``insure compliance with applicable water 
                        quality requirements.'' and inserting ``ensure 
                        compliance with the applicable provisions of 
                        sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307.'';
                            (iv) in the final sentence, by striking 
                        ``insure'' and inserting ``ensure''; and
                            (v) by striking the first sentence and 
                        inserting ``On receipt of a request for 
                        certification, the certifying State or 
                        interstate agency, as applicable, shall 
                        immediately notify the Administrator of the 
                        request.'';
                    (C) in paragraph (3), in the second sentence, by 
                striking ``section'' and inserting ``any applicable 
                provision of section'';
                    (D) in paragraph (4)--
                            (i) in the first sentence, by striking 
                        ``applicable effluent limitations or other 
                        limitations or other applicable water quality 
                        requirements will not be violated'' and 
                        inserting ``no applicable provision of section 
                        301, 302, 303, 306, or 307 will be violated'';
                            (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 
                        ``will violate applicable effluent limitations 
                        or other limitations or other water quality 
                        requirements'' and inserting ``will directly 
                        result in a discharge that violates an 
                        applicable provision of section 301, 302, 303, 
                        306, or 307,''; and
                            (iii) in the third sentence, by striking 
                        ``such facility or activity will not violate 
                        the applicable provisions'' and inserting 
                        ``operation of such facility or activity will 
                        not directly result in a discharge that 
                        violates any applicable provision''; and
                    (E) in paragraph (5), by striking ``the applicable 
                provisions'' and inserting ``any applicable 
                provision'';
            (2) in subsection (d), by striking ``any applicable 
        effluent limitations and other limitations, under section 301 
        or 302 of this Act, standard of performance under section 306 
        of this Act, or prohibition, effluent standard, or pretreatment 
        standard under section 307 of this Act, and with any other 
        appropriate requirement of State law set forth in such 
        certification, and'' and inserting ``the applicable provisions 
        of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307, and any such 
        limitations or requirements''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) For purposes of this section, the applicable provisions of 
sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307 are any applicable effluent 
limitations and other limitations, under section 301 or 302, standard 
of performance under section 306, prohibition, effluent standard, or 
pretreatment standard under section 307, and requirement of State law 
implementing water quality criteria under section 303 necessary to 
support the designated use or uses of the receiving navigable 
waters.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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