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Water Quality Criteria Development and Transparency Act
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to water quality criteria development and transparency, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require the Environmental Protection Agency to issue any new or revised water quality criteria through formal rulemaking procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act, rather than through guidance or other mechanisms. The bill also makes such water quality criteria subject to judicial review. These changes are intended to increase transparency and public participation in the development of water quality standards by requiring notice, public comment periods, and formal review procedures.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Owens, Burgess [R-UT-4] (R-UT)
Actions (3)
- Jun 13, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. · house
- Jun 10, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. · house
- Jun 10, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 10, 2025
Mr. Owens 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 water quality criteria development and transparency, 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 “Water Quality Criteria Development and Transparency Act”.
SEC. 2. WATER QUALITY CRITERIA DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPARENCY.
(a) Information and Guidelines.—Section 304(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1314(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(10) Administrative procedure.—After the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Administrator shall issue any new or revised water quality criteria under paragraph (1) or
(9) by rule.”.
(b) Administrative Procedure and Judicial Review.—Section 509(b)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1369(b)(1)) is amended—
(1) by striking “section 402, and” and inserting “section 402,”; and
(2) by inserting “and (H) in issuing any criteria for water quality pursuant to section 304(a)(10),” after “strategy under section 304(l),”. <all>
Comments