I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2421 
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 
MAY 22, 2007 
Mr. OBERSTAR (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. EHLERS, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE 
JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. HIG-
GINS, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. COHEN, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. KIRK, 
Mr. NADLER, Mr. WALSH of New York, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. CASTLE, Mrs. 
TAUSCHER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. FILNER, Ms. CORRINE 
BROWN of Florida, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. BISHOP 
of New York, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. CARSON, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. 
ARCURI, Mr. CARNAHAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HALL of New York, Mr. 
DOGGETT, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. 
BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Mr. KUCINICH, 
Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of 
California, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. HASTINGS of 
Florida, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. HOOLEY, 
Mr. SERRANO, Mr. WAXMAN, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. 
SARBANES, Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. FRANK of 
Massachusetts, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. OLVER, Mr. 
PAYNE, Mr. HONDA, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. CROWLEY, 
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Ms. 
CASTOR, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. 
CLAY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. WYNN, Mr. LANGEVIN, 
Mr. VISCLOSKY, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. SIRES, Mr. HODES, 
Mr. STARK, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of Cali-
fornia, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. 
PASCRELL, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Ms. SUTTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 
Mr. HOLT, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. SHERMAN, 
Mr. FARR, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. ALLEN, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. 
MCGOVERN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. ANDREWS, 
Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Ms. BEAN, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. 
NEAL of Massachusetts, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. WU, Mr. TIERNEY, 
Mr. WEINER, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, 
Ms. CLARKE, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. ENGEL, 
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Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, 
Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. DICKS, Mr. KIND, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, 
Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. WELCH of Vermont, Mr. 
GUTIERREZ, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. COOPER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. 
CONYERS, Mr. STUPAK, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Ms. WA-
TERS, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. DAVIS of Il-
linois, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. INSLEE, Ms. LEE, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. RANGEL, 
Ms. DELAURO, and Mr. LYNCH) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Water Restora-
tion Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To reaffirm the original intent of Congress 
in enacting the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
Amendments of 1972 (86 Stat. 816) to restore and 
maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integ-
rity of the waters of the United States. 
(2) To clearly define the waters of the United 
States that are subject to the Federal Water Pollu-
tion Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.). 
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(3) To provide protection to the waters of the 
United States to the fullest extent of the legislative 
authority of Congress under the Constitution. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Water is a unique and precious resource 
that is necessary to sustain human life and the life 
of animals and plants. 
(2) Water is used not only for human, animal, 
and plant consumption, but is also important for ag-
riculture, transportation, flood control, energy pro-
duction, recreation, fishing and shellfishing, and mu-
nicipal and commercial uses. 
(3) In enacting amendments to the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act in 1972 and through 
subsequent amendment, including the Clean Water 
Act of 1977 (91 Stat. 1566) and the Water Quality 
Act of 1987 (101 Stat. 7), Congress established the 
national objective of restoring and maintaining the 
chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the wa-
ters of the United States and recognized that achiev-
ing this objective requires uniform, minimum na-
tional water quality and aquatic ecosystem protec-
tion standards to restore and maintain the natural 
structures and functions of the aquatic ecosystems 
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of the United States. Since the 1970s, the definition 
of ‘waters of the United States’ in the regulations of 
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army 
Corps of Engineers have properly established the 
scope of waters to be protected under the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et 
seq.) in order to meet such national objective. 
(4) 
Water 
is 
transported 
through 
inter-
connected hydrologic cycles, and the pollution, im-
pairment, or destruction of any part of an aquatic 
system may affect the chemical, physical, and bio-
logical integrity of other parts of the aquatic system. 
(5) Protection of intrastate waters, along with 
other waters of the United States, is necessary to re-
store and maintain the chemical, physical, and bio-
logical integrity of all waters in the United States. 
(6) The regulation of discharges of pollutants 
into interstate and intrastate waters is an integral 
part of the comprehensive clean water regulatory 
program of the United States. 
(7) Small and intermittent streams, including 
ephemeral, and seasonal streams, and their start 
reaches comprise the majority of all stream and river 
miles in the conterminous United States. These wa-
ters reduce the introduction of pollutants to larger 
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rivers and streams, affect the life cycles of aquatic 
organisms and wildlife, and impact the flow of high-
er order streams during floods. 
(8) The pollution or other degradation of wa-
ters of the United States, individually and in the ag-
gregate, has a substantial relation to and effect on 
interstate commerce. 
(9) Protection of the waters of the United 
States, including intrastate waters, is necessary to 
prevent significant harm to interstate commerce and 
sustain a robust system of interstate commerce in 
the future. 
(10) Waters, including wetlands, provide protec-
tion from flooding, and draining or filling wetlands 
and channelizing or filling streams, including intra-
state wetlands and streams, can cause or exacerbate 
flooding, placing a significant burden on interstate 
commerce. 
(11) Millions of people in the United States de-
pend on wetlands and other waters of the United 
States to filter water and recharge surface and sub-
surface drinking water supplies, protect human 
health, and create economic opportunity. Source 
water protection areas containing one or more small 
or intermittent streams provide water to public 
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