Public Notice: Public Notice: Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Water Quality Certification for Discharges Related to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District Regional General Permit
Summary
Opportunity to comment on Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Water Quality Certification for discharges related to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District Regional General Permit.
Details
EPA Pacific Southwest (Region 9) received a request from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District, for a CWA 401 water quality certification for discharges associated with the Regional General Permit (RGP) for activities under Executive Order (EO) 14156, Declaring a National Energy Emergency, in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada of California and the States of Nevada and Utah.
RGPs are a type of general permit issued by USACE authorizing certain activities under the CWA Section 404 (discharges of dredged or fill material) and Rivers and Harbors Act Section 10 (structures or work in navigable waters) in a specific geographic area that are similar in nature and cause only minimal adverse environmental impacts to aquatic resources, separately or on a cumulative basis. The RGP would authorize energy and critical minerals production, transportation, refining, and generation activities that involve the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States (U.S.) under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and structures or work in or affecting navigable waters of the U.S. under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The USACE Public Notice for the RGP is located at: SPK-2025-00011, Public Notice of Proposal to Issue a NEW Regional General Permit (RGP) for the National Energy Emergency.
Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires applicants for federal licenses or permits that conduct any activity that may result in discharge into waters of the United States to obtain a certification or waiver from the certifying authority where the discharge originates. As the water quality certifying authority for the Tribes within California, Nevada, and Utah covered by the RGP that do not have Section 401 Certification Authority as well as Lands of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction in these states, EPA will analyze the discharge from the proposed activities to determine if the activity will comply with sections of the Clean Water Act. Then EPA will decide whether to (1) certify as proposed; (2) certify with conditions; (3) deny or (4) waive certification of the proposed activities.
Location
This certification request includes all geographic areas in EPA Region 9 in California and Nevada within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District’s Regulatory Program boundaries, where there are no other certifying authorities, including Tribal lands where tribes are not CWA 401 certifying authorities and lands of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction.