HJRES 44 is a congressional resolution seeking to block an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule titled "National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper: Improvements (LCRI)" that was published in the Federal Register on October 30, 2024. The bill directs Congress to disapprove this specific EPA rule under a federal process outlined in Title 5, U.S. Code, which would prevent the rule from taking effect. If passed, the resolution would nullify the EPA's updated regulations aimed at improving lead and copper testing and treatment standards in public drinking water systems. This resolution directly affects the implementation of the EPA's proposed water quality standards and would halt the rule's enforcement.
This bill directs the EPA to review and streamline regulations for states administering clean water permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, aiming to encourage more states to run their own permitting programs. It adds specific rules for court challenges to state permit approvals, requiring lawsuits to be filed within 60 days and limiting them to issues raised during public comment periods. Courts cannot block state permits unless activities pose an imminent environmental danger with no other remedy. The bill primarily affects states managing clean water permits, the EPA, and entities challenging permit decisions in court. It changes the legal process for reviewing state programs without altering pollution standards or permitting requirements.
Farmers Freedom Act of 2025 This bill excludes certain prior converted cropland from permit requirements under the Clean Water Act, including Section 404 permits for discharges of dredged materials into waters of the United States (WOTUS). The exclusion applies to areas that were converted to cropland prior to December 23, 1985. However, the bill does not exclude an area that has reverted to wetlands and has not been used for agricultural purposes in five years. In recent years, there has not been regulatory consistency about which cropland, such as cropland that has reverted to wetlands, is protected under the scope of the act as WOTUS. In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the Navigable Waters Protection Rule that, among other provisions, defined prior converted cropland in order to specify which cropland is excluded from the scope of the act. However, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona vacated the rule in Pascua Yaqui Tribe v. EPA . In 2023, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued another rule that excluded prior converted cropland from the scope of the act, but they defined the exclusion more narrowly than the exclusion in the 2020 rule. Similar to the 2020 rule, this bill broadens the exclusion. The bill determines the scope of the exclusion by defining the term prior converted cropland in statute .
HR 3905, the Judicial Review Timeline Clarity Act, amends the Clean Water Act to clarify timelines for challenging water pollution permits. It requires lawsuits seeking judicial review of individual or general permits (for dredged/fill material discharges) to be filed within 60 days of permit issuance, and mandates that such lawsuits must be based on specific comments made during the public comment period. The bill limits courts from vacating permits unless there is an imminent environmental danger with no other remedy, and sets a 180-day deadline for agencies to act after a court remands a case. This directly affects environmental groups, businesses, and citizens challenging permit decisions under the Clean Water Act.
HR 3934, the Water Quality Standards Attainability Act, amends the Clean Water Act to make water quality standards more achievable for states and communities. It requires states to review standards for water bodies receiving combined sewer discharges, specifically assessing cost-effective controls for overflows, and mandates that the EPA consider the cost and availability of treatment technologies when developing water quality criteria. This directly affects states setting water quality standards and the EPA in its regulatory role. The bill aims to ensure that pollution control requirements are practical and feasible for municipalities and utilities.
This bill exempts the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and its contractors from key environmental review laws - including the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and Clean Water Act - for defense activities certified as countering threats from the Chinese Communist Party. It directly affects DoD readiness, training, infrastructure projects, and defense technology development when certified by the President or Secretary of Defense. The exemption eliminates mandatory environmental reviews or evaluations for these activities, prohibits substitute reviews by federal or state authorities, and retroactively cancels ongoing legal challenges related to such projects. The bill requires the DoD to review environmental best practices every five years but bars courts from reviewing or blocking certified defense activities.
This bill requires the EPA Administrator to develop new or revised water quality criteria through formal rulemaking (not guidance) and mandates judicial review for these criteria. It directly affects the EPA's process for setting national water quality standards that states use to regulate pollution in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Key changes include amending the Clean Water Act to specify that criteria must be issued "by rule" and adding judicial review authority for EPA's criteria decisions under section 304(a)(10). The bill does not change the criteria themselves, only the procedural steps for their development and legal challenge.
The CLEAR Waters Act (S 2421) clarifies the definition of "navigable waters" under the Clean Water Act by explicitly excluding certain water features from federal regulation. It directly affects wastewater treatment facilities (like lagoons and ponds), seasonal streams that flow only after rain, and groundwater by removing them from the Clean Water Act's jurisdiction. Key provisions add specific exclusions to the definition, including waste treatment systems, ephemeral features, groundwater, and future exclusions determined by the EPA and Army Corps. This changes which water bodies require federal permits for pollution control, shifting oversight away from these excluded features.
This bill amends Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to clarify and streamline water quality certifications for energy infrastructure projects. It requires states and the EPA to publish certification requirements within 30 days of enactment, set strict 90-day deadlines for requesting missing information, and base decisions solely on specific Clean Water Act sections (301, 302, 303, 306, 307). The changes replace vague terms like "water quality requirements" with precise references to these sections and mandate written explanations for certification decisions. It directly affects states, interstate agencies, and the EPA as they process certification requests for projects like pipelines or power plants.
HR 3900, the Water Quality Technology Availability Act, amends a key provision of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require that pollution limits for industrial discharges be based only on technologies already commercially available in the U.S. This change directly affects industries subject to water quality regulations (like manufacturing and utilities) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when developing effluent guidelines. The bill modifies Section 304(b)(1)(B) to replace "technology in relation to" with "technology that is commercially available in the United States in relation to," ensuring standards reflect existing, practical solutions. It does not create new requirements but clarifies that regulatory standards must consider only currently available technologies, not hypothetical or undeveloped ones.
