Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt intends to limit his agency's authority to block permits for activities that could pollute waterways, The Hill reported Wednesday.
Pruitt formally requested, in an agency memo released Wednesday, that the EPA propose a regulation that officials will not be allowed to block a permit before it had been applied for or after the Army Corps of Engineers had issued one.
The regulation would likely be the most significant alteration to how the EPA enforces the Clean Water Act's restrictions regarding waterways in four decades. The new rules would require the agency's staff in regional offices to receive approval from headquarters before attempting to block a water permit, and would also require them to provide time for public comment before blocking permits.
Pruitt said the actions would increase regulatory certainty while still maintaining protections for clean water.
He said in a statement that the "memo refocuses EPA on its core mission of protecting public health and the environment in a way that is fair and consistent with due process,” insisting that “we must ensure that EPA exercises its authority under the Clean Water Act in a careful, predictable, and prudent manner."
Although the EPA has rarely blocked permits preemptively, previous administrations have defended their ability to do so.
Congress had granted EPA the review authority over the Army Corps of Engineers granting permits for waste dumping, with advocates stressing that it is a fail-safe the agency can leverage to encourage developers into more environmentally friendly practices and a way to protect waterways, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But Republicans and industries have argued that power is an improper use of the Clean Water Act.
In 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the EPA is within its power to retroactively veto water permits, and the Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal of the case.
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