[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6745 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
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.
<all>
Clean Water for All Act
#6745 | HR Congress #116
Policy Area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory proceduresArmy Corps of EngineersCongressional oversightEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Environmental healthEnvironmental regulatory proceduresFloods and storm protectionHazardous wastes and toxic substancesLakes and riversWater qualityWater use and supplyWetlands
Last Action: Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. (5/11/2020)
Bill Text Source: Congress.gov
Summary and Impacts
Original Text