EPA released a pre-publication version of its proposal to re-write the Clean Water Act 401 Certification Rule. The proposed re-write comes after the Northern District of California vacated EPA’s 2020 Certification Rule, which the U.S. Supreme Court later reinstated. The proposal also includes conforming amendments to EPA’s certification regulations for the Section 402 NPDES program. Like EPA’s pre-2020 certification regulations, the Section 402 NPDES certification regulations are outdated and inconsistent with the 1972 Section 401 language.

Comments on the proposal will be due 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.