WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Friday, Aug. 9, U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. VA.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal regarding the water quality certification process.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Friday, Aug. 9, U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. VA.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal regarding the water quality certification process.
The proposal would reform implementation of the water quality certification process under section 401 ofthe Clean Water Act.
“Today, we are one step closer to making sure that water quality certification reviews are used solely to protect water quality and not as a tool by environmental activists to delay and block pipelines and needed infrastructure projects,” said Inhofe.
“The EPA’s proposed reforms fully implement President Trump’s executive order on Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth and will continue our path to energy dominance. I’m glad to have worked with the president and EPA Administrator Wheeler to enact these reforms,” he said.
Barrasso is chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). Cramer is chairman of the EPW Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife.
CLEAN WATER ACT
“The Clean Water Act is being hijacked by a number of coastal states to block energy projects,” said Barrasso. “This coastal blockade cannot continue. It threatens America’s energy dominance and unfairly harms energy workers in Wyoming and other states.
“These coastal states are preventing cleaner American fuels from getting to communities in the northeast and around the world. These states can’t be allowed to weaponize the Clean Water Act. I applaud the Trump administration for working with me to develop solutions.”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
EPA’s issuance of proposed regulations is the agency’s next step to implement President Trump’s April 10 executive order Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth.
Section 3 of the executive order required EPA within 60 days to issue guidance to states, tribes and other agencies as EPA works to improve the water quality certification process under Section 401 of Clean Water Act. After issuance of the guidance, EPA was required to propose new regulations within 120 days, which the agency is doing now. EPA must finalize regulations within 13 months of the Executive Order.
Inhofe and Barrasso have pushed EPA to modernize the section 401 process. They introduced the Water Quality Certification Improvement Act of 2019 this year. The bill amends section 401 of the Clean Water Act.