119-hr3927

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3927 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 3927

 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to 
general permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material, and for 
 other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 June 11, 2025

 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 with respect to 
general permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material, 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 ``Nationwide Permitting Improvement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. NATIONWIDE PERMITTING IMPROVEMENT.

    (a) In General.--

Section 404

    (e) of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) is amended--

    (1) by striking ``

    (e)

    (1) In carrying'' and inserting the 
 following:
 ``

    (e) General Permits on State, Regional, or Nationwide Basis.--
 ``

    (1) Permits authorized.--In carrying'';

    (2) in paragraph

    (2) --
        (A) by striking ``

    (2) No general'' and inserting 
 the following:
 ``

    (2) Term.--No general''; and
        (B) by striking ``five years'' and inserting ``ten 
 years''; and

    (3) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (3) Considerations.--In determining the environmental 
 effects of an activity under paragraph

    (1) or

    (2) , the 
 Secretary--
 ``
        (A) shall consider only the effects of any 
 discharge of dredged or fill material resulting from 
 such activity; and
 ``
        (B) shall consider any effects of a discharge of 
 dredged or fill material into less than 3 acres of 
 navigable waters to be a minimal adverse environmental 
 effect.
 ``

    (4) Nationwide permits for linear infrastructure 
 projects.--
 ``
        (A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other 
 provision of this section, the Secretary shall maintain 
 general permits on a nationwide basis for linear 
 infrastructure projects that result in a discharge of 
 dredged or fill material into less than 3 acres of 
 navigable waters for each single and complete project 
 (as defined in 

section 330.2 of title 33, Code of 
 Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of 
 enactment of this paragraph)).
 ``
        (B) Definition of linear infrastructure 
 project.--In this paragraph, the term `linear 
 infrastructure project' means a project to carry out 
 any activity required for the construction, expansion, 
 maintenance, modification, or removal of infrastructure 
 and associated facilities for the transmission from a 
 point of origin to a terminal point of communications 
 or electricity, or for the transportation from a point 
 of origin to a terminal point of people, water, 
 wastewater, carbon dioxide, or fuel or hydrocarbons (in 
 the form of a liquid, liquescent, gaseous, or slurry 
 substance or supercritical fluid), including oil and 
 gas pipeline facilities.
 ``

    (5) Reissuance of nationwide permits.--In determining 
 whether to reissue a general permit issued under this 
 subsection on a nationwide basis--
 ``
        (A) no consultation with an applicable State 
 pursuant to 

section 6

    (a) of the Endangered Species Act 
 of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1535

    (a) ) is required;
 ``
        (B) no consultation with a Federal agency 
 pursuant to 

section 7

    (a)

    (2) of such Act (16 U.S.C. 
 1536

    (a)

    (2) ) is required; and
 ``
            (C) the requirements of 

section 102

    (2)
            (C) of the 
 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 
 4332

    (2)
            (C) ) shall be satisfied by preparing an 
 environmental assessment with respect to such general 
 permit.''.

    (b) Regulatory Revisions Required.--The Secretary of the Army, 
acting through the Chief of Engineers, shall expeditiously revise the 
regulations applicable to carrying out 

section 404

    (e) of the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) in order to streamline the 
processes for issuing general permits under such section to promote 
efficient and consistent implementation of such section.
            (c) Administration of Nationwide Permit Program.--In carrying out 

section 404

    (e) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1344), including in revising regulations under subsection

    (b) of this 
section, the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of 
Engineers, may not finalize or implement any modification to--

    (1) general condition 15 (relating to single and complete 
 projects), as included in the final rule titled ``Reissuance 
 and Modification of Nationwide Permits'' and published on 
 January 13, 2021, by the Department of the Army, Corps of 
 Engineers (86 Fed. Reg. 2868);

    (2) the definition of the term ``single and complete linear 
 project'', as included in such final rule (86 Fed. Reg. 2877); 
 or

    (3) the definition of the term ``single and complete 
 project'', as included in 

section 330.2 of title 33, Code of 
 Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of 
 this Act).
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