Section 401 Certification Act

section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1341) is designed to provide States and authorized Indian Tribes an important tool to help protect the water quality of federally regulated waters within their borders, in collaboration with Federal agencies through the cooperative federalism framework of that Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.);

in the years preceding the date of enactment of this Act, States have denied water quality certifications under section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1341) for infrastructure projects for reasons other than protecting water quality, such as downstream greenhouse gas emissions;

natural gas pipelines, coal production, and electric transmissions lines are vital to ensuring that the people of the United States have affordable access to energy;

in October 2021, the Energy Information Administration projected that nearly half of households in the United States that heat primarily with natural gas will spend, on average, 30 percent more to heat those households as compared to the previous winter;

fuel scarcity and a lack of sufficient infrastructure to transport natural gas contribute to higher energy prices; and

other infrastructure projects, such as road construction to support interstate commerce, are in the national interest and warrant regulatory certainty under section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1341).