The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of developing a new proposal under the Federal Water Quality Protection Act at $5 million between 2016 and 2020.
The legislation (S. 1140) requires the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release a final proposal that sets the scope of U.S. waters by Dec. 31, 2016, CBO said.
EPA and the corps need to evaluate alternative strategies for defining U.S. waters protected by the Clean Water Act in coordination with state and local regulatory officials.
S. 1140 also requires both organizations to specify how their new proposal would fulfill the criteria set in the legislation and prescribe the volume, duration and frequency of water flow in streams.
Under the bill, the Government Accountability Office is directed to report on EPA and the corps’ regulations every three years.
