Title: Regulatory Certainty for Navigable Waters Act
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Regulatory Certainty for Navigable Waters Act
This bill describes which bodies of water fall under federal jurisdiction and the scope of the Clean Water Act. Specifically, the bill (1) repeals the Environmental Protection Agency's 2015 Clean Water Rule, commonly known as the Waters of the United States or WOTUS rule; (2) redefines navigable waters; and (3) establishes a process for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine, upon request, whether certain wetlands are navigable waters.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 667 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 667

 To repeal the Waters of the United States rule and amend the Federal 
  Water Pollution Control Act definition of navigable waters, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2019

    Ms. Herrera Beutler (for herself and Mr. Gibbs) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
                           and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To repeal the Waters of the United States rule and amend the Federal 
  Water Pollution Control Act definition of navigable waters, 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 ``Regulatory Certainty for Navigable 
Waters Act''.

SEC. 2. WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES AND NAVIGABLE WATERS.

    (a) WOTUS Repeal.--The final rule issued by the Administrator of 
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of the Army 
entitled ``Clean Water Rule: Definition of `Waters of the United 
States''' (80 Fed. Reg. 37053 (June 29, 2015)) is repealed.
    (b) Navigable Waters Definition.--Section 502 of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended by striking paragraph 
(7) and inserting the following:
            ``(7) Navigable waters.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `navigable waters' 
                means--
                            ``(i) the territorial seas;
                            ``(ii) interstate waters which are 
                        presently used, or are susceptible to use in 
                        their natural and ordinary condition, as a 
                        means to transport interstate or foreign 
                        commerce;
                            ``(iii) relatively permanent, standing, or 
                        continuously flowing bodies of water that form 
                        geographical features commonly known as 
                        streams, rivers, or lakes, that flow directly 
                        into waters described in clause (ii); or
                            ``(iv) wetlands that have a continuous 
                        surface water connection to waters described in 
                        clause (ii) or (iii).
                    ``(B) Exclusions.--The term `navigable waters' 
                shall be limited to the waters described in 
                subparagraph (A) and does not include--
                            ``(i) intermittent or ephemeral waters;
                            ``(ii) subsurface waters, including ground 
                        water or underground streams;
                            ``(iii) any water that by itself does not 
                        meet the definition in subparagraph (A);
                            ``(iv) an intrastate water, unless meeting 
                        the requirements of subparagraph (A);
                            ``(v) a man-made channel or ditch, 
                        including irrigation, distribution, and 
                        drainage systems;
                            ``(vi) a water that does not meet the 
                        definition in subparagraph (A), including a 
                        water that in the past could have been a water 
                        that meets the definition in subparagraph (A) 
                        or a water that in the future could be a water 
                        that meets the definition in subparagraph (A);
                            ``(vii) a water that requires the use of 
                        means beyond visual inspection by the naked 
                        eye, including aerial photographs, satellite 
                        imaging, or hydrological testing, to determine 
                        if it meets the definition in subparagraph (A);
                            ``(viii) prior converted cropland; or
                            ``(ix) waste management systems, including 
                        systems created in or with impounded waters 
                        described in subparagraph (A) and all features 
                        and components of any system used to actively 
                        or passively retain, reduce, concentrate, 
                        settle, or remove pollutants from wastewater or 
                        stormwater, including those that convey the 
                        pollutants into and out of the system.
                    ``(C) Continuous surface water connection.--For 
                purposes of this paragraph, a continuous surface water 
                connection is a connection with respect to which an 
                ordinary person would not be able to visually determine 
                by the naked eye, by looking at the water surface, 
                where one body of water ends and the other begins.
                    ``(D) Relatively permanent, standing, or 
                continuously flowing.--For purposes of this paragraph, 
                a water is relatively permanent, standing, or 
                continuously flowing if it has continuous flow for at 
                least 290 days of the year, except in cases of extreme 
                events, such as a drought.
                    ``(E) Wetlands.--For purposes of this paragraph, 
                wetlands--
                            ``(i) are areas that are inundated or 
                        saturated by surface or ground water at a 
                        frequency and duration sufficient to support, 
                        and that under normal circumstances do support, 
                        a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted 
                        for life in saturated soil conditions; and
                            ``(ii) include swamps, marshes, bogs, and 
                        similar areas.
                    ``(F) Prior converted cropland.--For purposes of 
                this paragraph, the term `prior converted cropland'--
                            ``(i) means areas that, prior to December 
                        23, 1985, were drained or otherwise manipulated 
                        for the purpose, or having the effect, of 
                        making an agricultural product possible, and 
                        that are inundated for no more than 14 
                        consecutive days during the growing season; and
                            ``(ii) includes agricultural drainage 
                        features, including ditches and conveyances, 
                        that are the means by which the original 
                        conversion from wetlands to cropland took place 
                        and that are integral to the continued 
                        production of agricultural products by 
                        providing drainage or irrigation to maintain 
                        productive growing conditions.
                    ``(G) Jurisdictional determination.--The Secretary 
                of the Army, at his cost, shall provide a binding 
                determination upon the request of a permit applicant, 
                landowner, or other affected person with an 
                identifiable and substantial legal interest in a 
                property, to determine whether a water is a navigable 
                water under clause (iv) of subparagraph (A). The review 
                process shall not exceed 60 days, beginning on the date 
                of receipt of a written request from the affected 
                person. If no determination has been made within the 
                60-day review period, the water shall not be considered 
                a navigable water. A determination that a water is not 
                a navigable water, or a failure to provide a 
                determination, shall be binding on both the Secretary 
                and the Administrator for as long as the person has an 
                identifiable and substantial legal interest in the 
                property. If a determination is made that a water is a 
                navigable water, the determination shall be binding for 
                a period of no longer than 5 years. The affected person 
                may obtain expedited judicial review not later than 30 
                days after the date on which the determination is made 
                in a district court of the United States, of 
                appropriate jurisdiction and venue, which is located 
                within the State of the affected person seeking the 
                review.''.
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