WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today welcomed a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change the way it considers dredge-and-fill permits based on an approach proposed in the Regulatory Certainty Act of 2018, legislation Senator Capito introduced last month.
“This is a welcome change that will certainly ensure a more responsible and predictable water permitting process. That’s something that is absolutely necessary to prove greater certainty when it comes to water infrastructure projects and help ensure they can move forward without unnecessary and burdensome costs and delays, while also taking into account important environmental concerns,” Senator Capito said. “I introduced the Regulatory Certainty Act to provide a legislative fix to the problem the EPA moved to correct today, and I will continue working to advance that legislation. While I fully support EPA’s water permitting changes, we still need a permanent fix, and that means we need to change the law.”
The Regulatory Certainty Act of 2018 would make clear the period of time in which EPA may prohibit the issuance of or terminate existing dredge-and-fill permits, also known as 404 permits. The bill, meant to prevent regulatory overreach and confusion, would limit that period to 30 consecutive days between the time the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notifies EPA it is reviewing a 404 permit application and the time the Army Corps issues the permit.
More information on the bill is available here.
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