“To ensure that certain permit approvals by the Environmental Protection Agency have the force and effect of law, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section ratifies three state permit programs under CWA section 404 (33 U.S.C. 1344) for dredged or fill material discharges—Michigan (approved 1984), New Jersey (1994), and Florida (2020)—and prohibits EPA from withdrawing their approval, including under subsection (i), absent an Act of Congress. (1) For Florida, it authorizes dual permit issuance by the Army Corps of Engineers and the state during a 90-day transition period beginning on enactment; (2) it directs EPA to approve any future state program determined comparable to these three, with Corps suspension of federal permits upon state notification of program administration; and (3) it amends CWA section 404(h) to clarify that state program approvals are not rules or regulations. (As background, CWA section 404 permits, typically issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, regulate dredged or fill discharges into waters of the U.S. to protect aquatic ecosystems; states may assume this authority after EPA approval under subsection (g). Thus, this provision locks in and expands state-led permitting.)