Water Quality Certification Improvement Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3422 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 MAY 20, 2021 Mr. MCKINLEY (for himself, Mr. GIBBS, and Mr. STAUBER) 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Quality Certifi- 4 cation Improvement Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION. 6 Section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 7 Act (33 U.S.C. 1341) is amended— 8 (1) in subsection (a)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3422.IH H3422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3422 IH (A) in paragraph (1)— 1 (i) in the first sentence— 2 (I) by inserting ‘‘by the appli- 3 cant’’ after ‘‘any discharge’’; and 4 (II) by inserting ‘‘as a result of 5 the federally licensed or permitted ac- 6 tivity’’ after ‘‘into the navigable 7 waters’’; 8 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 9 ‘‘activity’’ and inserting ‘‘discharge’’; 10 (iii) in the third sentence, by striking 11 ‘‘applications’’ each place it appears and 12 inserting ‘‘requests’’; 13 (iv) in the fifth sentence, by striking 14 ‘‘act on’’ and inserting ‘‘grant or deny’’; 15 and 16 (v) by inserting after the fourth sen- 17 tence the following: ‘‘The certifying State, 18 interstate agency, or Administrator shall 19 publish the requirements for certification 20 that meet the applicable provisions of sec- 21 tions 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307. The 22 decision to grant or deny a request shall be 23 based only on the applicable provisions of 24 sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3422.IH H3422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3422 IH the grounds for a decision shall be set 1 forth in writing to the applicant.’’; 2 (B) in paragraph (2)— 3 (i) in the second sentence— 4 (I) by striking ‘‘such a dis- 5 charge’’ and inserting ‘‘a discharge 6 made into the navigable waters by the 7 applicant as described in paragraph 8 (1)’’; 9 (II) by inserting ‘‘receipt of the’’ 10 before ‘‘notice’’; and 11 (III) by striking ‘‘of application 12 for such Federal license or permit’’ 13 and inserting ‘‘under the preceding 14 sentence’’; 15 (ii) in the third sentence— 16 (I) by striking ‘‘such discharge’’ 17 and inserting ‘‘any discharge made 18 into the navigable waters by the appli- 19 cant as described in paragraph (1)’’; 20 and 21 (II) by striking ‘‘any water qual- 22 ity requirement’’ and inserting ‘‘the 23 applicable provisions of sections 301, 24 302, 303, 306, and 307’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3422.IH H3422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3422 IH (iii) in the fifth sentence, by striking 1 ‘‘insure compliance with applicable water 2 quality requirements.’’ and inserting ‘‘en- 3 sure any discharge into the navigable 4 waters by the applicant as described in 5 paragraph (1) will comply with the applica- 6 ble provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 7 306, and 307.’’; and 8 (iv) by striking the first sentence and 9 inserting ‘‘Not later than 90 days after re- 10 ceipt of a request for certification, the cer- 11 tifying State, interstate agency, or Admin- 12 istrator shall identify in writing all specific 13 additional materials or information that 14 are necessary to make a final decision on 15 a request for certification. On receipt of a 16 request for certification, the certifying 17 State or interstate agency, as applicable, 18 shall immediately notify the Administrator 19 of the request.’’; 20 (C) in paragraph (3)— 21 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 22 ‘‘there will be compliance’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘a discharge made into the navigable 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3422.IH H3422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3422 IH waters by the applicant as described in 1 paragraph (1) will comply’’; and 2 (ii) in the second sentence— 3 (I) by striking ‘‘section’’ and in- 4 serting ‘‘the applicable provisions of 5 sections’’; and 6 (II) by striking ‘‘or 307 of this 7 Act’’ and inserting ‘‘and 307’’; 8 (D) in paragraph (4)— 9 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 10 ‘‘applicable effluent limitations’’ and all 11 that follows through the period at the end 12 and inserting ‘‘any discharge made by the 13 applicant into the navigable waters as de- 14 scribed in paragraph (1) will not violate 15 the applicable provisions of sections 301, 16 302, 303, 306, and 307.’’; 17 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 18 ‘‘will violate applicable effluent limitations 19 or other limitations or other water quality 20 requirements such Federal’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘will result in a discharge made into the 22 navigable waters by the applicant as de- 23 scribed in paragraph (1) that violates the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3422.IH H3422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3422 IH applicable provisions of sections 301, 302, 1 303, 306, and 307, the Federal’’; and 2 (iii) in the third sentence— 3 (I) by striking ‘‘such facility or 4 activity’’ and inserting ‘‘a discharge 5 made by the applicant into the navi- 6 gable waters as described in para- 7 graph (1)’’; and 8 (II) by striking ‘‘section 301, 9 302, 303, 306, or 307 of this Act’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘sections 301, 302, 303, 11 306, and 307’’; and 12 (E) in paragraph (5)— 13 (i) by striking ‘‘such facility or activ- 14 ity has been operated in’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘any discharge made by the applicant into 16 the navigable waters as described in para- 17 graph (1) is in’’; and 18 (ii) by striking ‘‘section 301, 302, 19 303, 306, or 307 of this Act’’ and insert- 20 ing ‘‘sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 21 307’’; and 22 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘assure that 23 any applicant for a Federal license or permit will 24 comply with any applicable’’ and inserting the fol- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3422.IH H3422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3422 IH lowing: ‘‘ensure that any discharge made by the ap- 1 plicant into the navigable waters as described in sub- 2 section (a)(1) shall comply with the applicable provi- 3 sions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306, and 307. Any 4 limitations or requirements in the preceding sen- 5 tence shall become a condition on any Federal li- 6 cense or permit subject to the provisions of this sec- 7 tion. 8 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION OF APPLICABLE PROVISIONS OF 9 SECTIONS 301, 302, 303, 306, AND 307.—In this section, 10 the term ‘applicable provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 11 306, and 307’ means, as applicable,’’; and 12 (3) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated)— 13 (A) by striking ‘‘with’’; 14 (B) by striking ‘‘other appropriate’’; and 15 (C) by striking ‘‘set forth’’ and all that fol- 16 lows through the period at the end and insert- 17 ing ‘‘implementing water quality criteria under 18 section 303 necessary to support the specified 19 designated use or uses of the receiving navi- 20 gable water.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3422.IH H3422 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS