This ECOS comment letter on U.S. EPA’s proposed rule, Updating the Water Quality Certification Regulations, shares ECOS member feedback on the importance of state authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401. Section 401, which was added specifically as a safeguard for states as part of cooperative federalism, provides states with an important tool to review activities associated with a wide range of federal permitting decisions and to protect water quality from the impacts of those decisions. States urge the agency to continue to preserve this important state authority, as established and defined by the CWA, while pursuing clarity in these revisions. The letter shares many states’ concerns about the scope of certification being restricted to point sources, names the importance of the ability of state certifying authorities to define additional contents in a request for certification, outlines the value to some states of being able to ask applicants to withdraw a request on a very limited basis, cautions against giving applicants a formal or regulatory role in the modification process, and identifies the value of narrative criteria in protecting water quality. States share in U.S. EPA’s goal to promulgate a final rule that provides a clear and consistent certification process.
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