[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7026 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7026

 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify when the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority 
 to prohibit the specification of a defined area, or deny or restrict 
 the use of a defined area for specification, as a disposal site under 
            section 404 of such Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2024

Mr. Stauber (for himself and Mr. Rouzer) 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 clarify when the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority 
 to prohibit the specification of a defined area, or deny or restrict 
 the use of a defined area for specification, as a disposal site under 
            section 404 of such 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 ``Reducing Permitting Uncertainty 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PERMITS FOR DREDGED OR FILL MATERIAL.

    (a) In General.--Section 404(c) of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344(c)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(c) The Administrator'' and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(c) Specification or Use of Defined Area.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Administrator'';
            (2) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by inserting 
        ``during the period described in paragraph (2) and'' before 
        ``after notice and opportunity for public hearings''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Period of prohibition.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The period during which the 
                Administrator may prohibit the specification (including 
                the withdrawal of specification) of any defined area as 
                a disposal site, or deny or restrict the use of any 
                defined area for specification (including the 
                withdrawal of specification) as a disposal site, under 
                paragraph (1) shall--
                            ``(i) begin on the date that the Secretary 
                        provides notice to the Administrator that the 
                        Secretary has completed all procedures for 
                        processing an application for a permit under 
                        this section relating to the specification and 
                        is ready to determine, in accordance with the 
                        record and applicable regulations, whether the 
                        permit should be issued; and
                            ``(ii) end on the date on which the 
                        Secretary issues the permit.
                    ``(B) Minimum period.--The Secretary shall ensure 
                that the period described in subparagraph (A) consists 
                of not fewer than 30 consecutive days.
                    ``(C) Notice.--The Secretary may issue a permit 
                under this section only after the Secretary provides 
                notice to the Administrator in accordance with this 
                paragraph.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to a permit application submitted under section 404(a) of the 
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344(a)) after the date 
of enactment of this Act.
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