subject to Federal permitting requirements comply with established water quality requirements. Outdated Federal guidance and regulations regarding section 401 of the Clean Water Act, however, are causing confusion and uncertainty and are hindering the development of energy infrastructure.
(a) The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shall consult with States, tribes, and relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies) in reviewing section 401 of the Clean Water Act and EPA’s related regulations and guidance to determine whether any provisions thereof should be clarified to be consistent with the policies described in section 2 of this order. This review shall include examination of the existing interim guidance entitled, ‘‘Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification: A Water Quality Protection Tool for States and Tribes’’ (Section 401 Interim Guidance). This review shall also take into account federalism considerations underlying section 401 of the Clean Water Act and shall focus on:
- the need to promote timely Federal-State cooperation and collaboration;
- the appropriate scope of water quality reviews;
- types of conditions that may be appropriate to include in a certification;
- expectations for reasonable review times for various types of certification requests; and
- the nature and scope of information States and authorized tribes may need in order to substantively act on a certification request within a prescribed period of time.
(b) Upon completion of the consultation and review process described in subsection (a) of this section, but no later than 60 days after the date of this order, the Administrator of the EPA shall:
- as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, issue new guidance to States and authorized tribes to supersede the Section 401 Interim Guidance to clarify, at minimum, the items set forth in subsection (a) of this section; and
- issue guidance to agencies, consistent with the policies outlined in section 2 of this order, to address the items set forth in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Upon completion of the consultation and review process described in subsection (a) of this section, but no later than 120 days after the date of this order, the Administrator of the EPA shall review EPA’s regulations implementing section 401 of the Clean Water Act for consistency with the policies set forth in section 2 of this order and shall publish for notice and comment proposed rules revising such regulations, as appropriate and consistent with law. The Administrator of the EPA shall finalize such rules no later than 13 months after the date of this order.
(d) Upon completion of the processes described in subsection (b) of this section, the Administrator of the EPA shall lead an interagency review, in coordination with the head of each agency that issues permits or licenses subject to the certification requirements of section 401 of the Clean Water Act (401 Implementing Agencies), of existing Federal guidance and regulations for consistency with EPA guidance and rulemaking. Within 90 days of completion of the processes described in subsection (b) of this section, the heads of the 401 Implementing Agencies shall update their respective agencies’ guidance. Within 90 days of completion of the processes described in subsection (c) of this section, if necessary, the heads of each 401 Implementing Agency shall initiate a rulemaking to ensure their respective agencies’ regulations are consistent with the rulemaking described in subsection (c) of this section and with the policies set forth in section 2 of this order.
Sec. 4. Safety Regulations. (a) The Department of Transportation’s safety regulations for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities, found in 49 CFR part 193 (Part 193), apply uniformly to small-scale peakshaving, satellite, temporary, and mobile facilities, as well as to large-scale import and export terminals. Driven by abundant supplies of domestic natural gas, new LNG
