Last week, U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Water Resources Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) reintroduced H.R. 896, the “Regulatory Certainty Act,” which would clarify the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) role under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The bill clarifies that EPA does not have the authority to veto a Section 404 permit after the Army Corps of Engineers has issued the permit as the Agency did in the case of the Spruce Mine in West Virginia.
Furthermore, it would prevent EPA from preemptively vetoing CWA permits before applicants have submitted permit applications. As in the last Congress, NMA continues to work closely with Chairman Gibbs and our allies in Congress to push back on EPA’s expansive use of its 404 authority.
Industry has challenged EPA’s 404(c) veto actions regarding both the Spruce and Pebble mine permits, and litigation in both cases is on-going.