Federal Regulatory Certainty for Water Act

Federal Regulatory Certainty for Water Act

This bill nullifies the Clean Water Rule that was issued on May 27, 2015, by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The rule describes the scope of the Clean Water Act.

Under this bill, the Clean Water Act applies to waters of the United States that are (1) navigable-in-fact; or (2) permanent or continuously flowing bodies of water that form geographical features commonly known as streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes that are connected to waters that are navigable-in-fact.

Under this bill, the Act does not apply to (1) waters that do not physically abut those waters of the United States through an actual and continuous surface water connection; (2) man-made or natural structures or channels through which water flows intermittently or ephemerally; or (3) wetlands (including playa lakes, prairie potholes, wet meadows, wet prairies, and vernal pools) that lack that continuous surface water connection.

The aggregation of wetlands or waters may not be used to determine whether the wetlands or waters are navigable waters.