Reforming Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act will prevent future administrations from reversing Trump era deregulatory gains that have liberated American innovators and small businesses from a sclerotic and sluggish regulatory system
WASHINGTON, D.C. – To protect the de-regulatory accomplishments of the Trump Administration for the long-term, the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree Chamber) submitted a Petition for Rulemaking to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking targeted amendments to regulations governing its exercise of authority under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act. Filed on May 20, the petition proposes regulatory guardrails so that EPA may exercise its Section 404(c) authority only rooted in the text of the Clean Water Act, rather than policy discretion, as was common during the Obama and Biden Administrations.
The petition and cover letter are available here and here, respectively.
In the cover letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Gentry Collins, AmFree Chamber CEO writes, “AmFree strongly commends you, and other key members of the Trump Administration, for the dogged pursuit of much needed de-regulatory reforms that allow Americans to build great things again. These paradigm-shifting changes are necessary to liberate American innovators and small businesses from a sclerotic and sluggish regulatory system that forgets who it serves, relishes process over results, and too often sees denial as the default course of action. Unfortunately, some oppose both the Administration’s de-regulatory agenda and the prosperity it enables. It is vital that EPA’s de-regulatory accomplishments be durable so they may not be easily reversed by a future administration. To that end, the attached Petition for Rulemaking proposes regulatory guardrails for how EPA may exercise its Section 404(c) authority.”
AmFree outlines two core arguments for the need for durable regulatory relief:
- EPA’s veto authority allows the agency to insert itself into the already-byzantine permitting process to prohibit development in vast swaths of the country, even before anyone has applied for a permit to develop such areas and even when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the expert federal agency that implements the Section 404, believes that the area can be developed without unacceptable adverse effects to the environment.
- EPA can veto Section 404 permit years after it was granted. The post-issuance veto of a Section 404 permit delivered a death sentence to the Mingo Logan Spruce No. 1 Mine, a prosperous West Virginia coal mining business utilizing extensive environmental mitigation measures and with millions of dollars invested in the project.
AmFree respectfully urges the EPA to rescind the Obama and Biden Administrations EPA vetoes, initiate a rulemaking proceeding to consider these proposed amendments and engage with stakeholders across industry, government, and the public.
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About AmFree Chamber
The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree Chamber) is a trade organization representing American businesses of all sizes. It is dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise, free markets, limited government, and American leadership globally. AmFree Chamber is chaired by the Honorable Jason Miyares, who previously served as Attorney General in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
AmFree Chamber has members representing dozens of industries and from across the United States. Since its founding in 2022, AmFree Chamber has aggressively represented its members’ interests through legislative outreach, regulatory comments, and judicial briefing.