[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5983 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5983

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to restore a national 
 minimum standard of protection for the water resources of the United 
        States while providing certainty to regulated entities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 18, 2023

Mr. Larsen of Washington (for himself, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Beyer, Ms. 
 Stansbury, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Allred, Mr. Auchincloss, Ms. Balint, Ms. 
 Barragan, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Bowman, Ms. 
    Brownley, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter of 
Louisiana, Mr. Casar, Mr. Case, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. 
Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Crow, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. 
DeGette, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. 
    Evans, Mrs. Foushee, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Garcia of 
  Illinois, Mr. Robert Garcia of California, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. 
Goldman of New York, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Hoyle 
 of Oregon, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. 
  Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Khanna, Mr. 
     Kilmer, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Lee of 
California, Mr. Levin, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Magaziner, Ms. Matsui, 
Ms. McClellan, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGarvey, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Menendez, 
Ms. Meng, Mr. Mfume, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moulton, 
   Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neguse, Mr. Norcross, Ms. Norton, Ms. 
 Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Payne, Mr. Peters, Ms. 
   Pingree, Ms. Porter, Ms. Pressley, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Raskin, Mr. 
Ruppersberger, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. 
   Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Scholten, Mr. Scott of 
    Virginia, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Stevens, Ms. 
Strickland, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. 
Titus, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Torres of New York, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. 
 Trone, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Vasquez, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, 
Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wexton, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of 
Florida, Mr. Castro of Texas, and Ms. Waters) introduced the following 
                                  bill

                            October 25, 2023

     Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to restore a national 
 minimum standard of protection for the water resources of the United 
        States while providing certainty to regulated entities.

    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 Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

     The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To reaffirm the commitment of Congress to restore and 
        maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of 
        the Nation's protected water resources.
            (2) To clearly define the Nation's protected water 
        resources that are subject to the Federal Water Pollution 
        Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1252 et seq.) (commonly known as the 
        ``Clean Water Act'') based on the best available scientific 
        evidence and decades of partnership between the Federal, State, 
        and Tribal governments to protect water quality.
            (3) To eliminate the confusion initiated by the Supreme 
        Court's overly narrow interpretation of the term ``navigable 
        waters'' and to reestablish the comprehensive authority 
        necessary to meet the codified objective of the Clean Water 
        Act.
            (4) To restore a national minimum standard of protection of 
        the Nation's protected water resources to the fullest extent of 
        the legislative authority of Congress under the Constitution.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Water is a singular and precious resource that sustains 
        all life and is fundamental to civilization's survival, 
        cultural practices, and indigenous ways of life.
            (2) Clean and abundant water is important for public 
        health, agriculture, transportation, flood control, energy 
        production, recreation, fishing, and municipal and commercial 
        uses.
            (3) Rivers, streams, wetlands, and other water bodies are 
        hydrologically connected within their watersheds, and 
        scientific evidence shows that the pollution, impairment, or 
        destruction of a water body in one location may significantly 
        affect the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of 
        other waters.
            (4) The Supreme Court's decision in Sackett v. EPA, 598 
        U.S. 651 (2023), reduces the protections of the Clean Water Act 
        contrary to, and impairing, the congressional objective of 
        restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and 
        biological integrity of the Nation's protected water resources.
            (5) The decision eliminates Clean Water Act protections for 
        tens of millions of acres of wetlands, including wetlands that 
        perform vital functions such as storing water to help reduce 
        flooding, improving water quality by filtering pollutants, 
        providing critical and important habitats for aquatic and other 
        species, and recharging groundwater that provides drinking 
        water and contributes to downstream flows.
            (6) The decision also puts at risk Clean Water Act 
        protections for millions of miles of small, intermittent, and 
        ephemeral streams that--
                    (A) comprise the majority of stream miles in the 
                United States;
                    (B) transport large volumes of water to downstream 
                rivers;
                    (C) reduce the introduction of pollutants to large 
                streams and rivers;
                    (D) provide and purify drinking water supplies;
                    (E) are especially important to the life cycles of 
                aquatic organisms; and
                    (F) aid in flood prevention.
            (7) The peer reviewed scientific literature unequivocally 
        demonstrates that--
                    (A) streams, regardless of their size or frequency 
                of flow, are connected to, and strongly influence the 
                function of, downstream waters; and
                    (B) wetlands, including wetlands that lack surface 
                water connections, are physically, chemically, and 
                biologically connected to, and affect the integrity of, 
                other protected water resources.
            (8) Restoring and maintaining the Nation's protected water 
        resources, including intrastate waters, is necessary to prevent 
        significant harm to interstate commerce and sustain a robust 
        system of interstate commerce in the future.
            (9) This Act restores Clean Water Act protections to the 
        Nation's protected water resources to ensure their chemical, 
        physical, and biological integrity.
            (10) The pollution or other degradation of the Nation's 
        protected water resources, individually and in the aggregate, 
        has a substantial relation to and effect on interstate 
        commerce.
            (11) Protected water resources, including streams and 
        wetlands, provide protection from flooding, and draining or 
        filling wetlands and channelizing or filling streams can cause 
        or exacerbate flooding, placing a significant burden on 
        interstate commerce.
            (12) Millions of individuals in the United States depend on 
        the Nation's protected water resources, including streams and 
        wetlands, to filter water and recharge surface and subsurface 
        drinking water supplies, protect human health, and create 
        economic opportunity.
            (13) Source water protection areas containing small, 
        intermittent, and ephemeral streams replenish public drinking 
        water supplies serving more than 110 million individuals in the 
        United States.
            (14)(A) Millions of individuals in the United States enjoy 
        recreational activities that depend on protected water 
        resources, including streams and wetlands, such as waterfowl 
        hunting, bird watching, fishing, paddling, and photography.
            (B) Those activities and associated travel generate 
        hundreds of billions of dollars of income each year for the 
        travel, tourism, recreation, and sporting sectors of the 
        economy of the United States.
            (15) Regionally specific protected water resources, such as 
        prairie potholes in the upper Midwestern prairies, pocosins in 
        the Atlantic coastal plain, playa lakes in the southern High 
        Plains, and Carolina and Delmarva bays along the eastern coast 
        of the United States, provide unique and critical benefits to 
        their surrounding regions, including sustainable water quality 
        and availability, groundwater recharge, wildlife habitat, and 
        ecological benefits.
            (16) Activities that result in the discharge of pollutants 
        into the Nation's protected water resources, including through 
        dredging and filling, are commercial or economic in nature, 
        and, in the aggregate, have a substantial effect on interstate 
        commerce.
            (17) Restoring and maintaining the quality of, and 
        regulating activities affecting, the Nation's protected water 
        resources is essential to fulfilling the United States treaty 
        obligations.
            (18) Restoring and maintaining wetlands and other protected 
        water resources is essential to North American wildlife, 
        hunters, and anglers.
            (19) Restoring and maintaining the quality of, and 
        regulating activities affecting, the Nation's protected water 
        resources is necessary to protect Federal land and waters from 
        degradation.

SEC. 4. PROTECTED WATER RESOURCES.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (7) to read as follows:
            ``(7) Protected water resources.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `protected water 
                resources' means all waters subject to the ebb and flow 
                of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate 
                and intrastate waters (and their tributaries), 
                including lakes, rivers, streams (including 
                intermittent and ephemeral streams), wetlands, and all 
                impoundments of the foregoing, to the fullest extent 
                that these waters are subject to the legislative power 
                of Congress under the Constitution.
                    ``(B) Exclusions.--The term `protected water 
                resources' does not include--
                            ``(i) any category of water body or feature 
                        listed in paragraphs (1) through (8) of section 
                        120.2(b) of title 40, Code of Federal 
                        Regulations, as in effect on March 20, 2023; or
                            ``(ii) any other category of water body or 
                        feature excluded by the Administrator in 
                        accordance with subparagraph (C).
                    ``(C) Review and modifications.--
                            ``(i) Review required.--Not later than 1 
                        year after the date of enactment of the Clean 
                        Water Act of 2023, and periodically thereafter, 
                        the Administrator shall, by rule, review the 
                        categories of water body or feature excluded 
                        under subparagraph (B) to determine, based on 
                        the best available scientific evidence, whether 
                        the implementation of such exclusions, or any 
                        individual exclusion, has a significant 
                        cumulative adverse effect on--
                                    ``(I) the chemical, physical, or 
                                biological integrity of--
                                            ``(aa) the waters described 
                                        in subparagraph (A); or
                                            ``(bb) surface waters, 
                                        other than those described in 
                                        subparagraph (A), that are 
                                        sources of water for public 
                                        water systems, as such term is 
                                        defined in section 1401 of the 
                                        Safe Drinking Water Act (42 
                                        U.S.C. 300f);
                                    ``(II) environmental justice 
                                communities; or
                                    ``(III) water resources described 
                                in section 518(e)(2).
                            ``(ii) Modifications and removal.--If the 
                        Administrator determines under clause (i) that 
                        the implementation of the exclusions, or any 
                        individual exclusion, under subparagraph (B) 
                        has a significant adverse effect described in 
                        clause (i), the Administrator shall, by rule 
                        and concurrent with such determination--
                                    ``(I) modify the category of water 
                                body or feature so excluded to ensure 
                                that, based on the best available 
                                scientific evidence, the implementation 
                                of such category will not have a 
                                significant cumulative adverse effect 
                                described in clause (i); or
                                    ``(II) remove such category.
                            ``(iii) Additional exclusions.--The 
                        Administrator may, by rule, exclude an 
                        additional category of water body or feature 
                        under subparagraph (B) if the Administrator 
                        determines, based on the best available 
                        scientific evidence, that the implementation of 
                        such additional exclusion will not have a 
                        significant cumulative adverse effect described 
                        in clause (i).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(28) Wetlands.--The term `wetlands' means those areas 
        that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a 
        frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under 
        normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation 
        typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Federal water pollution control act.--The Federal Water 
        Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended--
                    (A) in sections 101, 102, 104, 106, 208, 301, 302, 
                303, 304, 319, 401, 404, 405, and 511(c), by striking 
                ``navigable waters'' each place it appears and 
                inserting ``protected water resources'';
                    (B) in section 303(c)--
                            (i) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ``such 
                        waters'' and inserting ``such protected water 
                        resources''; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking 
                        ``such waters'' and inserting ``such protected 
                        water resources'';
                    (C) in section 304(l)(1) by striking ``navigable 
                waters'' in the heading and inserting ``protected water 
                resources'';
                    (D) in section 305--
                            (i) in subsection (a), by striking 
                        ``navigable waters'' each place it appears and 
                        inserting ``protected water resources''; and
                            (ii) in subsection (b)(1)--
                                    (I) in subparagraph (A), by 
                                striking ``navigable waters'' and 
                                inserting ``protected water 
                                resources''; and
                                    (II) in subparagraph (B), by 
                                striking ``navigable waters of'' and 
                                inserting ``protected water resources 
                                in'';
                    (E) in section 311--
                            (i) in subsections (a)(11), (b), and (m), 
                        by striking ``navigable waters of the United 
                        States'' each place it appears and inserting 
                        ``protected water resources''; and
                            (ii) in subsections (c) and (j), by 
                        striking ``navigable waters'' each place it 
                        appears and inserting ``protected water 
                        resources'';
                    (F) in section 312--
                            (i) in subsections (a) and (b), by striking 
                        ``navigable waters'' each place it appears and 
                        inserting ``protected water resources''; and
                            (ii) in subsections (h), (l), and (n), by 
                        striking ``navigable waters of the United 
                        States'' each place it appears and inserting 
                        ``protected water resources'';
                    (G) in section 319, by striking ``such waters'' 
                each place it appears and inserting ``such protected 
                water resources'';
                    (H) in section 402--
                            (i) in subsection (a)(4), by striking 
                        ``into the navigable waters'';
                            (ii) in subsections (b), (g), and (n)(1), 
                        by striking ``navigable waters'' each place it 
                        appears and inserting ``protected water 
                        resources''; and
                            (iii) in subsection (n)(2), by striking 
                        ``navigable waters of'' and inserting 
                        ``protected water resources in'';
                    (I) in section 404--
                            (i) in subsection (f)(2), by striking 
                        ``such waters'' and inserting ``such protected 
                        water resources''; and
                            (ii) in subsection (g)(1)--
                                    (I) by striking ``those waters'' 
                                and inserting ``those protected water 
                                resources''; and
                                    (II) by striking ``all waters'' and 
                                inserting ``all protected water 
                                resources'';
                    (J) in paragraphs (11) and (12) of section 502, by 
                striking ``navigable waters'' each place it appears and 
                inserting ``protected water resources''; and
                    (K) in section 511(b), by inserting ``as discharges 
                of pollutants into protected water resources'' after 
                ``shall be regulated''.
            (2) Oil pollution act of 1990.--Section 1001(21) of the Oil 
        Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701(21)) is amended by 
        striking ``waters of the United States, including the 
        territorial sea'' and inserting ``protected water resources (as 
        defined in section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
        Act)''.
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