H.R. 3927

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

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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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