[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6745 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6745

 To prohibit implementation of a rule defining ``waters of the United 
 States'' under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2020

Mr. DeFazio (for himself and Mrs. Napolitano) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit implementation of a rule defining ``waters of the United 
 States'' under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 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 ``Clean Water for All Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) reaffirm Congress' commitment to ``restore and maintain 
        the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the 
        Nation's waters'', as enacted through the Federal Water 
        Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, more commonly known 
        as the Clean Water Act, by a 10-to-1 margin over the veto of 
        President Richard M. Nixon;
            (2) overturn the Trump administration's Dirty Water Rule, 
        which eliminates Clean Water Act protections for countless 
        rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands that have been protected 
        by the Clean Water Act for decades under regulations 
        established by the Corps of Engineers under the Reagan 
        administration in 1986, and implemented by Republican and 
        Democratic administrations alike; and
            (3) restore bipartisan Clean Water Act protections over the 
        Nation's network of streams, lakes, rivers, and wetlands that 
        are necessary for sustaining life, are critical to the economic 
        and environmental health of the Nation, and are essential for 
        the well-being of farmers, small businesses, communities, and 
        the Nation's way of life.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Access to clean water is a fundamental right; it is 
        necessary to sustain life and the economic and environmental 
        health and well-being of cities, towns, and communities.
            (2) Americans rely on the Nation's network of streams and 
        rivers, and the bodies of water into which they flow, for human 
        and environmental health, as well as the economic health of 
        cities, towns, and communities.
            (3) This network of streams and rivers, including the 
        intermittent and ephemeral streams that constitute more than 
        two-thirds of all streams in the conterminous United States, 
        feed the public drinking water systems of approximately 117 
        million Americans.
            (4) The Environmental Protection Agency's own comprehensive 
        review of peer-reviewed scientific publications stated that 
        ``the scientific literature unequivocally demonstrates that 
        streams, individually or cumulatively, exert a strong influence 
        on the integrity of downstream waters'' and that the 
        connections between streams and downstream waters are critical 
        to the health of downstream waters, including where the 
        upstream waters serve as the primary source of water for the 
        downstream waters, and the myriad other chemical, physical, and 
        biological connections.
            (5) Americans also rely on wetlands, including non-
        floodplain wetlands, to capture and store excess water, 
        nutrients, and materials from stormwater or runoff, preventing 
        or reducing pollution to downstream waters, and lessening the 
        potential for downstream flooding.
            (6) There is overwhelming scientific evidence, which has 
        been reviewed and confirmed by the Environmental Protection 
        Agency's Science Advisory Board, that there are no streams or 
        rivers safe to pollute or degrade, and that wetlands, both 
        individually and cumulatively, have a direct and consequential 
        impact on the quality of downstream waters and on the health 
        and safety of downstream communities.
            (7) Restoring the protection of the network of streams, 
        rivers, lakes, and wetlands, and other waters of the United 
        States, is necessary to restore and maintain the chemical, 
        physical, and biological integrity of all waters in the United 
        States.
            (8) Recent events demonstrate how increased pollution in 
        and degradation of streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands, and 
        other waters of the United States, can cause catastrophic harm 
        to communities' health and economic strength, such as--
                    (A) the 2014 harmful algal bloom in western Lake 
                Erie, which resulted in a three-day shutdown of the 
                drinking water supply of Toledo, Ohio, affecting 
                approximately 500,000 people;
                    (B) the 2014 chemical spill into the Elk River in 
                Charleston, West Virginia, causing the city to shut 
                down its municipal drinking water supply for 
                approximately 300,000 people for several days;
                    (C) outbreaks of blue-green algae and red tide in 
                the State of Florida in 2018 and 2019, causing 
                widespread harm to businesses, recreational 
                opportunities, local economies, and the local 
                environment;
                    (D) recent flooding events, including along the 
                Mississippi and Missouri River watersheds, and in 
                communities, such as Houston, Texas, demonstrate how 
                destruction of critical wetlands and degradation of 
                watersheds can exacerbate the severity and duration of 
                flood events and increase the financial impacts to 
                local communities, homeowners, farmers, economies, and 
                businesses; and
                    (E) worsening drought conditions and frequency have 
                highlighted the importance of source water protection, 
                reclamation, and recycling to ensure communities, 
                farmers, and small businesses have sufficient 
                quantities and quality of water resources for current 
                and future needs.
            (9) Congress has recently recognized the importance of 
        comprehensive approaches to protect critical waterbodies, such 
        as the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, Lake Pontchartrain, the 
        Long Island Sound, the Puget Sound, and the San Francisco Bay, 
        and national estuaries, which depend on protection of the 
        entire watersheds of these waterbodies to reduce levels of 
        pollution and prevent further degradation of rivers, streams, 
        and wetlands that feed and maintain these critical waterbodies.
            (10) Despite the overwhelming, bipartisan support for clean 
        water and the overwhelming scientific evidence on the 
        interconnectivity of rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, and 
        other waters of the United States, following calls by corporate 
        polluters to weaken the Clean Water Act, the Trump 
        administration finalized its Dirty Water Rule, also known as 
        the ``Navigable Waters Protection Rule'', to radically narrow 
        decades-old regulations established by President Ronald Reagan.
            (11) According to Environmental Protection Agency 
        documents, the Trump administration's Dirty Water Rule would--
                    (A) eliminate Clean Water Act protections on 
                between 18 to 71 percent of the Nation's stream and 
                river miles that were protected under the Reagan-era 
                regulations;
                    (B) eliminate Federal protections on over half of 
                the Nation's wetlands in the continental United States 
                that were protected under the Reagan-era regulations; 
                and
                    (C) result in approximately 16,000 existing Clean 
                Water Act permitted facilities (including industrial 
                facilities and sewage treatment systems) that may be 
                allowed to discharge pollutants without Federal 
                oversight under the Clean Water Act.
            (12) In addition to the adverse human and environmental 
        health impacts of the Trump administration's Dirty Water Rule, 
        this effort will also have lasting adverse economic impacts on 
        American families, on farmers and other small businesses, and 
        on the national, regional, and local economies.
            (13) Additionally, America's wildlife-watching, hunting, 
        fishing, and $887 billion outdoor recreation economy all depend 
        upon access to clean water.
            (14) In some rural communities, river recreation, hunting, 
        fishing, and related activities generate the largest share of 
        the local economy; the streams and wetlands that will lose 
        Federal protections under this rule include waters that provide 
        essential aquatic habitat for the fish, waterfowl, and wildlife 
        that sustain this way of life.
            (15) The Trump administration's own document entitled 
        ``Economic Analysis for the Navigable Waters Protection Rule: 
        Definition of `Waters of the United States''', dated January 
        22, 2020, recognizes the potential adverse impacts of its Dirty 
        Water Rule on local economies, individual households, and 
        public health, including--
                    (A) an increase in the discharge of pollutants from 
                point sources to newly unprotected rivers, streams, 
                lakes, and wetlands, including ``reduced protection for 
                aquatic ecosystems and public health and welfare'';
                    (B) a degradation of water quality in rivers, 
                streams, and lakes ``as a result of pollution loadings 
                from newly non-jurisdictional waters'' that will 
                adversely affect the environment, will increase the 
                costs of drinking water treatment and reservoir 
                maintenance, and will negatively affect recreational 
                opportunities for downstream waters, such as fishing 
                and swimming;
                    (C) a ``loss of wetlands and streams without 
                corresponding mitigation'';
                    (D) an increased risk for communities from 
                flooding, both in terms of the magnitude of potential 
                floods as well as the duration of flooding events; and
                    (E) an increased risk in the frequency and duration 
                of oil and chemical spills and the adverse consequences 
                of such spills on human and environmental health and 
                local communities.
            (16) Despite recognizing the potential adverse impacts of 
        the Trump administration's Dirty Water Rule on local economies, 
        individual households, and the public health, the Trump 
        administration has repeatedly refused to quantify these impacts 
        to Congress and the American people.
            (17) With many communities living with unsafe waters and 
        increased risks from extreme weather, flooding, and drought, 
        now is not the time to cut back on the protection of clean 
        water, as would occur with implementation of the Trump 
        administration's Dirty Water Rule.
            (18) The American people demand more, not less, protection 
        for clean water.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF RULE.

    The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the 
Secretary of the Army may not implement or enforce the final rule 
entitled ``The Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of `Waters 
of the United States''', published in the Federal Register on April 21, 
2020 (85 Fed. Reg. 22250), and such rule shall have no force or effect.

SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 
and the Secretary of the Army shall promulgate a regulation defining 
``waters of the United States'' for all purposes under the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act, in accordance with this section.
    (b) Requirements.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
Administrator and the Secretary shall ensure that--
            (1) the rulemaking process includes an opportunity for 
        public comment on the proposed regulation lasting no fewer than 
        180 days and at least one public hearing allowing for in-person 
        presentations by the public;
            (2) the promulgated definition of ``waters of the United 
        States'' includes categories of water bodies that affect the 
        physical, chemical, or biological integrity of traditionally 
        navigable and interstate waters, based on the best available 
        scientific evidence; and
            (3) implementation of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
        Act using such definition will prevent any--
                    (A) degradation of surface water quality;
                    (B) increased contaminant levels in drinking water 
                sources;
                    (C) increased flooding-related risks to human life 
                or property; and
                    (D) disproportionate adverse impacts on minority or 
                low-income populations.
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