Today, we signed on to a letter urging Congress to enact policies to modernize Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
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Dear Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader Jeffries, Majority Leader Thune, and Minority Leader Schumer,
On behalf of a broad coalition representing America’s energy stakeholders who operate critical infrastructure that generate, transport, and deliver an array of energy sources that power our homes, businesses, and communities, we write to urge Congress to enact policies to modernize Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Importantly, these needed modifications will restore clarity, predictability, and timeliness to the federal-state certification process without compromising environmental stewardship.
Reviews conducted under Section 401 were intended to ensure federally licensed or permitted projects comply with water quality standards. Over time, however, select stakeholders and certifying authorities have utilized this process to delay or block projects for reasons wholly unrelated to water quality. As U.S. electricity demand from various sectors continues to rise due to re-shoring of manufacturing and an expansion of AI and data centers, these practices have slowed investment in critical energy infrastructure, stalled innovation across multiple technologies, and undermined the nation’s ability to deliver affordable, reliable, and increasingly clean energy to consumers.
Congress should restore the Clean Water Act to its proper scope and function. To that end, we urge adoption of meaningful and durable reforms that preserve state and tribal authority to safeguard water quality while reestablishing the certainty that developers need to deploy linear and non-linear energy infrastructure projects alike. Key reforms include:
- Limiting the scope of certifications strictly to the water quality effects of point source discharges, consistent with Congressional intent.
- Clarifying the start of the one-year deadline for certifying authorities by defining a “complete request for certification” as a written request containing basic details on the applicant, the project, and the anticipated discharge, preventing indefinite delays caused by deeming applications “incomplete.”
Providing an effective, efficient, and predictable process for project applicants to seek judicial review of a state’s certification decision, as projects cannot move forward while appealing denials.
- Ensuring timely and final decisions by clarifying that certifying authorities can only decide to grant, deny, or waive a certification, prohibiting “denials without prejudice” as a tactic to force an applicant to resubmit in order to reset the one-year clock.
- Preventing after-the-fact modifications by clarifying that once certification is issued, conditions cannot be unilaterally reopened or revised outside the federal licensing process.
- Assigning consistent federal enforcement by ensuring certification conditions are enforceable solely through the federal license or permit, avoiding duplicative or conflicting oversight.
These commonsense reforms would not only maintain robust environmental protections, but also provide much-needed certainty to the permitting process for an array of energy infrastructure projects including renewable, traditional generation, pipelines, transmission lines, storage facilities, and emerging technologies.
The security and accessibility of the United States’ future energy portfolio will depend on timely investment and deployment across a diverse set of technologies. The stakes are too high for permitting delays to continue impeding progress. We urge Congress to move swiftly to enact Section 401 reforms that strike the right balance between environmental protection and efficient infrastructure development.
Thank you for your leadership on this important issue. We stand ready to work with you to ensure that the domestic permitting system enables — not obstructs — the delivery of the secure, affordable, and clean energy future the American people deserve.
