(5) No community should bear a dispropor-
tionate share of the adverse environmental and pub-
lic health impacts of pollution caused by economic or 
any other activity. 
(6) Overburdened communities should be em-
powered legally and politically to participate in any 
decision to allow additional facilities which by their 
nature increase environmental and public health 
stressors to locate in their communities. 
(7) It is in the public interest to limit the fu-
ture placement and expansion of such facilities in 
overburdened communities. 
(8) The burden of proof that a proposed action 
will not harm communities should fall on polluting 
industries and on the Federal Government in its reg-
ulatory role, not the communities themselves. 
(9) Pollutants currently regulated by the Fed-
eral Government, including for example criteria air 
pollutants, may have additive and synergistic nega-
tive effects on human health and the environment 
when combined. 
(10) Cumulative impacts are the public health 
and environmental risks and impacts caused by the 
combined past, present, and reasonably foreseeable 
future releases of environmental pollution in a spe-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:41 Aug 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4592.IH
H4592
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
cific geographic area. Cumulative impact assessment 
considers sensitive populations and other social fac-
tors that may heighten vulnerability to environ-
mental pollution and associated health risks. 
(11) Cumulative impact assessments built into 
permitting decisions are one critical tool for pre-
venting increased environmental and public health 
degradation in overburdened communities. At its 
most basic, cumulative impact assessment requires 
studying the impacts of having multiple pollution 
sources and stressors combined together on public 
health and the environment. While the effects of a 
single pollutant from a single source may be less sig-
nificant when analyzed in isolation, the cumulative 
impacts of multiple pollutants from multiple sources 
in combination with each other and with other social 
vulnerabilities degrade public health and the environ-
ment substantially. Cumulative impact assessments 
should be incorporated into pollution permitting de-
cisions such that Federal regulators are required to 
deny permits that threaten public health and the en-
vironment. 
(12) The general failure of the Federal Govern-
ment to consider and regulate potential cumulative 
impacts in pollution permitting decisions has re-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:41 Aug 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4592.IH
H4592
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
sulted in the inequitable distribution of pollution 
across regions and overburdening of certain commu-
nities. 
(13) Federal Government inaction has forced 
some State and local governments to act on their 
own to regulate cumulative impacts, including Cali-
fornia and New Jersey, creating a patchwork of cu-
mulative impact regulations across the country. 
(14) The Federal Government is aware of the 
importance of cumulative impact assessment in other 
types of environmental review, such as with environ-
mental assessments conducted under the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 
et seq.). 
(15) The Federal Government should adopt and 
operationalize cumulative impact assessment in all 
pollution permitting decisions, especially in overbur-
dened communities, and should deny permits that 
create a reasonable certainty of harm to commu-
nities. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:41 Aug 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4592.IH
H4592
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
SEC. 3. CONSIDERATION OF CUMULATIVE IMPACTS AND 
PERSISTENT VIOLATIONS IN CERTAIN PER-
MITTING DECISIONS. 
(a) FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT.— 
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
(33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended— 
(1) by striking the section designation and 
heading and all that follows through ‘‘Except as’’ in 
subsection (a)(1) and inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 402. NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMI-
NATION SYSTEM. 
‘‘(a) PERMITS ISSUED BY ADMINISTRATOR.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as’’; 
(2) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (1)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘upon condition that 
such discharge will meet either (A) all’’ 
and inserting the following: ‘‘subject to the 
conditions that— 
‘‘(A) the discharge will achieve compliance 
with, as applicable— 
‘‘(i) all’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘403 of this Act, or 
(B) prior’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘403; or 
‘‘(ii) prior’’; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:41 Aug 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4592.IH
H4592
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
(iii) by striking ‘‘this Act.’’ and insert-
ing the following: ‘‘this Act; and 
‘‘(B) with respect to the issuance or re-
newal of the permit— 
‘‘(i) based on an analysis by the Ad-
ministrator of existing water quality and 
the potential cumulative impacts (as de-
fined in section 501 of the Clean Air Act 
(42 U.S.C. 7661)) of the discharge, consid-
ered in conjunction with the designated 
and actual uses of the impacted navigable 
water, there exists a reasonable certainty 
of no harm to the health of the general 
population, or to any potentially exposed or 
susceptible subpopulation; or 
‘‘(ii) if the Administrator determines 
that, due to those potential cumulative im-
pacts, there does not exist a reasonable 
certainty of no harm to the health of the 
general population, or to any potentially 
exposed or susceptible subpopulation, the 
permit or renewal includes such terms and 
conditions as the Administrator determines 
to be necessary to ensure a reasonable cer-
tainty of no harm.’’; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:41 Aug 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4592.IH
H4592
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘assure 
compliance with the requirements of paragraph 
(1) of this subsection, including conditions on 
data and information collection, reporting, and 
such other requirements as he deems appro-
priate.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘ensure 
compliance with the requirements of paragraph 
(1), including— 
‘‘(A) conditions relating to— 
‘‘(i) data and information collection; 
‘‘(ii) reporting; and 
‘‘(iii) such other requirements as the 
Administrator determines to be appro-
priate; and 
‘‘(B) additional controls or pollution pre-
vention requirements.’’; and 
(3) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in each of paragraphs (1)(D), (2)(B), 
and (3) through (7), by striking the semicolon 
at the end and inserting a period; 
(B) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
at the end and inserting a period; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(10) To ensure that no permit will be issued 
or renewed if, with respect to an application for the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:41 Aug 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4592.IH
H4592
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS