Protecting Our Great Lakes Act 2015-04-23 Introduced in House Protecting Our Great Lakes Act

This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit discharges of dredged material into the Great Lakes System, except for discharges: (1) into a confined disposal facility; or (2) in connection with a beneficial use or habitat establishment, improvement, and/or restoration. The prohibition becomes effective in five years.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or a state with an approved permit program, may waive application of the prohibition on a discharge during the first two years of the prohibition if: (1) the Environmental Protection Agency or the state determines that the waiver is necessary and appropriate, and (2) each concerned state approves of the waiver in the case of a waiver issued by the Corps of Engineers.

In determining the least costly manner, and the least costly and most practicable location, for discharges of dredged material resulting from Corps of Engineers operations and maintenance activities in the Great Lakes System, the Corps of Engineers must exclude from consideration the use of open-water placement of dredged material.

]]>

text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.