[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5516 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5516

   To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit the 
   discharge of dredged material into the Great Lakes, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 2014

  Mr. Latta 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 prohibit the 
   discharge of dredged material into the Great Lakes, 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 ``Protecting Our Great Lakes Act of 
2014''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON DISCHARGE OF DREDGED MATERIAL INTO THE GREAT 
              LAKES SYSTEM.

    Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1344) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``The Secretary may'' 
        and inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (u), the 
        Secretary may'';
            (2) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``in paragraph 
                (2)'' and inserting ``in paragraphs (2) and (3)''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
            ``(3) Any discharge of dredged material into the open 
        waters of the Great Lakes is prohibited.'';
            (3) in subsection (r), by striking ``The discharge'' and 
        inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (u), the 
        discharge''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(u) Prohibition on Discharge of Dredged Material Into the Open 
Waters of the Great Lakes.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary (or a State in the case of 
        a State program approved under this section) may not issue a 
        permit for the discharge of dredged material into the open 
        waters of the Great Lakes.
            ``(2) Disposal areas.--
                    ``(A) Any dredged material resulting from activity 
                in the Great Lakes System (as defined in section 118 of 
                this Act) shall be reused in beneficial ways on land or 
                disposed of in a confined land-based or confined water-
                based disposal area determined to be economically and 
                environmentally viable by the Secretary in consultation 
                with concerned States.
                    ``(B) Any person who violates subparagraph (A) 
                shall be treated as having violated a condition or 
                limitation set forth in a permit issued under this 
                section.
            ``(3) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        `open waters of the Great Lakes' means all of the waters within 
        Lake Erie, Lake Huron (including Lake St. Clair), Lake 
        Michigan, Lake Ontario, and Lake Superior lakeward from a line 
        drawn across the mouth of tributaries to the Lakes, including 
        all waters enclosed by constructed breakwaters, but not 
        including the connecting channels.''.
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