WATER Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
Creates a program allowing willing States, with EPA and Army Corps agreement, to assume specified federal section 404 and related navigable-waters permitting responsibilities for transportation projects.
Who Benefits and How
Participating States and transportation project sponsors gain a path to consolidate dredge-and-fill and related water permitting at the State level, which can shorten review timelines for covered projects.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, and participating States must stand up agreements, maintain federal-equivalent procedures, and administer oversight and litigation responsibilities.
Key Provisions
- Requires the Secretary of the Army and EPA Administrator to establish the Waterway Permit Section 404 Assignment program.
- Allows a State, by written agreement, to assume specified Clean Water Act section 404 and related Rivers and Harbors Act permitting responsibilities for covered transportation projects.
- Requires participating States to satisfy federal-equivalent procedural and substantive standards while leaving unassigned responsibilities with the federal government.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a program allowing willing States, with EPA and Army Corps agreement, to assume specified federal section 404 and related navigable-waters permitting responsibilities for transportation projects.
Key Policy Areas
Environment, Transportation, Government Operations
Primary Purpose
Creates a program allowing willing States, with EPA and Army Corps agreement, to assume specified federal section 404 and related navigable-waters permitting responsibilities for transportation projects.
Policy Domains
Main Provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Participating State permitting agencies
- Highway, rail, and public transportation project sponsors
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Army Corps of Engineers and EPA administrators
- Participating States assuming federal permitting duties
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Jon Husted
R-OH | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Husted (for himself and Mr. Ricketts) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Participating State permitting agencies
Highway, rail, and public transportation project sponsors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the secretary"
- → Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers
- "the administrator"
- → Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology