Confidence in Clean Water Permits Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7013 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7013

 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to the 
    scope of national pollutant discharge elimination system permit 
 discharge authorizations and the expression of effluent limitations, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2024

Mr. Duarte (for himself and 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 the 
    scope of national pollutant discharge elimination system permit 
 discharge authorizations and the expression of effluent limitations, 
                        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 ``Confidence in Clean Water Permits 
Act''.

SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH PERMITS.

    Section 402(k) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1342(k)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(k) Compliance with'' and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(k) Compliance With Permits.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), compliance 
        with''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Scope.--For purposes of paragraph (1), compliance 
        with the conditions of a permit shall be considered compliance 
        with respect to a discharge of--
                    ``(A) any pollutant for which an effluent 
                limitation is included in the permit; and
                    ``(B) any pollutant for which an effluent 
                limitation is not included in the permit that is--
                            ``(i) specifically identified as controlled 
                        or monitored through indicator parameters in 
                        the permit, the fact sheet for the permit, or 
                        the administrative record relating to the 
                        permit;
                            ``(ii) specifically identified during the 
                        permit application process as present in 
                        discharges to which the permit will apply; or
                            ``(iii) whether or not specifically 
                        identified in the permit or during the permit 
                        application process--
                                    ``(I) present in any waste streams 
                                or processes of the point source to 
                                which the permit applies, which waste 
                                streams or processes are specifically 
                                identified during the permit 
                                application process; or
                                    ``(II) otherwise within the scope 
                                of any operations of the point source 
                                to which the permit applies, which 
                                scope of operations is specifically 
                                identified during the permit 
                                application process.''.

SEC. 3. EXPRESSION OF WATER QUALITY-BASED EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS.

    Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(t) Expression of Water Quality-Based Effluent Limitations.--The 
Administrator (or a State, in the case of a permit program approved by 
the Administrator) may not include any water quality-based limitation 
on a discharge of a pollutant in a permit under this section except in 
the form of an effluent limitation that specifies--
            ``(1) the pollutant to which it applies; and
            ``(2) the numerical limit on the discharge of such 
        pollutant, or the precise waterbody conditions to be attained 
        with respect to such pollutant, required to comply with the 
        permit.''.
                                 <all>