Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe joined three other Senators this week in introducing a bill to make clear the amount of time the EPA can prohibit the issuance or terminate existing dredge-and-fill permits. It’s an effort to promote more energy production including coal mining as well as oil and gas operations and to end government overreach allowed in the Obama administration.
The permits are known as 404 permits and the bill,the Regulatory Certainty Act of 2018 would prevent regulatory overreach and confusion.
The Obama-era EPA abused the regulatory process, using bureaucratic overreach to delay or block previously approved projects,” stated Sen. Inhofe. “This legislation clarifies existing law to promote timely and thorough consideration of 404 permits and eliminate unfair and confusing permitting actions in order to support our domestic energy production.”
Sen. Inhofe joined Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) in filing the legislation.
“Our bill provides businesses, including energy companies with the certainty they deserve to secure permits under the Clean Water Act,” explained Sen. Barrasso, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He said in the past, companies who attempted to secure environmental permits “received mixed messages from the Environmental Protection Agency.”
He charged that the EPA in the past nad unfairly used the permitting process to try and stop projects.
The legislation has the support of the American Petroleum Institute, the National Mining Association and the West Virginia Coal Association.
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for any dredge or fill activity that affects federal waters, such as infrastructure development, water resource and mining projects. But Sen. Inhofe and the others pointed out that through executive overreach, the Obama administration gave the EPA the ability to unilaterally veto 404 permits.