NEW-ISH: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced a proposed rule to overhaul permitting for major energy infrastructure under the Clean Water Act’s Section 401.

The rule change would limit the ability of states and Native American tribes to block construction of energy projects like oil and gas pipelines, in part by restricting their ability to object to projects due to concerns about things like air pollution or traffic.

Only water impacts from “point source discharges” would be open to state and tribal reviews, and those reviews would be given a one-year deadline.

“By returning Section 401 to its clear statutory boundaries, we’re strengthening the role of state and tribal partners while ensuring environmental protections are implemented lawfully, efficiently, and consistent with congressional intent,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.

Once finalized, it is likely to spur legal challenges from Democratic attorneys general and others.

The agency’s proposed rule change would reverse what it called a “fundamentally flawed 2023 Biden EPA rule” that allowed states and Native American tribes to block projects over a wide range of expected impacts to water resources. Those expected impacts included runoff harms to fish habitat, for instance.

The 2023 rule change had been challenged by Republican-led states and fossil fuel industry groups in court, but the litigation was stayed last year after the Trump administration came into power.

The first Trump administration had implemented a similar change, as it focused on fast-tracking big energy projects. The Section 401 process had come up in particular after states like New York, Washington and Oregon used it to block major pipeline proposals, liquefied natural gas and coal export terminals.

EPA’s fact sheet: epa.gov/system/files/do…