Posted June 9, 2014
House Water Resources Subcommittee Chairman Robert Gibbs (R-Ohio) and full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ranking number Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) will introduce legislation next week to limit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ‘s (EPA’s) permit veto power under the Clean Water Act (CWA), according to an NE-MWI Mississippi River Basin Policy Analysis article by Manuel Quiñones available here. The Hill Blog also published an article available here.
Gibbs and Rahall aim to prevent the agency from vetoing the Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 dredge-and-fill permits, before and after the permitting process. The lawmakers are also concerned about EPA’s ongoing review of whether to veto permits for the proposed Pebble copper and gold mini project in Alaska, which has not reached the approval process.
“This legislation will clarify EPA’s role in the Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting process to ensure that the agency does not disrupt the normal permitting process by denying permits before they are ever issued,” Gibbs said.
“EPA’s preemptive veto of permits is a threat to our economy because it deters future investment in projects that create jobs and promote local and regional economic development,” Rahall said in the statement. “This bill simply aims to ensure that the proper permitting practices can move forward, and that EPA’s ideological zeal to expand its authority is checked,” according to The Hill Blog.
Gibbs and Rahall also sponsored a bill to ban the EPA from vetoing 404 permits issued by the Army Corps, which was passed in April by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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