The Environmental Protection Agency submitted a proposal to streamline and clarify requirements for states and Tribes to protect waterways from discharges of “dredged or fill material” without a permit.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) envisions “collaborative implementation” between the EPA and state and Tribal co-regulators to protect America’s waters that support “public health, thriving ecosystems, business development, recreation, agriculture and more,” according to a July 19 EPA news release. The proposal addresses barriers to administering Clean Water Act section 404 and expands opportunities for Tribes to engage in permitting actions.

“Many state and Tribal partners share EPA’s goal of protecting our nation's waterways as envisioned by Congress and embodied in the Clean Water Act,” Radhika Fox, EPA assistant administrator for water, said in the release. “That’s why EPA is proposing this to strengthen our partnership with states and Tribes, ensuring clean water protections. Today’s proposal will support co-regulator efforts to administer their own programs to manage discharges of dredged or fill material into our nation’s waters.”

Only three states administer their own Clean Water Act section 404 programs, according to the release.

The proposal, according to the EPA, is in response to state and Tribal requests that the agency clarify the process to “assume and administer the section 404 program.” The proposal also identifies which water bodies are covered under the program, while also outlining mitigation and enforcement responsibilities, the release stated.  

“The National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM) supports efforts by EPA to clarify and expand opportunities for assumption of the section 404 program,” Marla Stelk, executive director of NAWM, said in the release. “For many states and Tribes, assumption can offer a way to improve protection of their wetlands and other aquatic resources. Program assumption can reduce duplicative state, Tribal and federal permitting requirements and increase integration with related water management programs.”

Once the proposal, which is the first “major update to these regulations” since 1988, is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 60 days to submit comments, the release stated.

For more information about the proposal or for details on how to submit comments, visit the EPA’s CWA section 404 website.