Title: A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify certain activities that would have been authorized under Nationwide Permit 12 and other Nationwide Permits, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
This bill provides statutory authority under the Clean Water Act for activities authorized in the reissued final rule titled Issuance and Reissuance of Nationwide Permits and specifies requirements and criteria for subsequent reissuances of such permits. Nationwide permits are issued for periods of up to five years by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to authorize activities that have minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental effects.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4402 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4402

  To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify certain 
 activities that would have been authorized under Nationwide Permit 12 
         and other Nationwide Permits, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 3, 2020

  Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Cramer, Mr. 
Cruz, Mr. Daines, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Lankford, Ms. Murkowski, 
and Mr. Tillis) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify certain 
 activities that would have been authorized under Nationwide Permit 12 
         and other Nationwide Permits, 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. ACTIVITIES UNDER NATIONWIDE PERMIT 12 AND OTHER NATIONWIDE 
              PERMITS.

    Section 404(e) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1344(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Authorized activities.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B) and 
                notwithstanding the consultation requirements under 
                section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 
                U.S.C. 1536), each activity authorized by the Secretary 
                under the Nationwide Permits, as reissued in the final 
                rule of the Secretary entitled `Issuance and Reissuance 
                of Nationwide Permits' (82 Fed. Reg. 1860 (January 6, 
                2017)), and any subsequent reissuances of the 
                Nationwide Permits, shall be considered authorized if--
                            ``(i) the Secretary and the non-Federal 
                        applicant seeking to carry out the activity 
                        comply with all other applicable Nationwide 
                        Permit requirements; and
                            ``(ii) for activities for which the 
                        submission of a pre-construction notification 
                        is required pursuant to general condition 18, 
                        as described in the final rule or any 
                        subsequent reissuance of the Nationwide 
                        Permits, the Secretary--
                                    ``(I) makes a written determination 
                                that the activity will have no effect 
                                on--
                                            ``(aa) a species listed as 
                                        a threatened species or an 
                                        endangered species under 
                                        section 4 of that Act (16 
                                        U.S.C. 1533); or
                                            ``(bb) land designated as a 
                                        critical habitat under that Act 
                                        (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); or
                                    ``(II) documents that the Secretary 
                                relied on and incorporated all 
                                applicable species- and activity-
                                specific conditions and measures 
                                determined to be appropriate by the 
                                Secretary from any consultation carried 
                                out under section 7 of that Act (16 
                                U.S.C. 1536).
                    ``(B) Termination.--The authority provided under 
                this paragraph terminates on March 18, 2026.''.
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