I
116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 5799
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to normal
farming activities and to require the Corps of Engineers and the Environ-
mental Protection Agency to apply certain decisions of the Secretary
of Agriculture when enforcing such Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 7, 2020
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. PETERSON) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with
respect to normal farming activities and to require the
Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection
Agency to apply certain decisions of the Secretary of
Agriculture when enforcing such Act, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bridging Responsible 4
Agricultural Conservation Efforts Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5799.IH H5799kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
2
•HR 5799 IH
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-3
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-4
mental Protection Agency. 5
(2) CHIEF OF ENGINEERS.—The term ‘‘Chief of 6
Engineers’’ means the Secretary of the Army, acting 7
through the Chief of Engineers. 8
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9
the Secretary of Agriculture. 10
SEC. 3. NORMAL FARMING ACTIVITIES. 11
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 404(f)(1)(A) of the Fed-12
eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 13
1344(f)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘or upland soil and 14
water conservation practices’’ and inserting ‘‘upland soil 15
and water conservation practices (including changing con-16
servation systems), crop changes for soil management (in-17
cluding the use of haying and pasturing for the purpose 18
of harvest or grazing), or activities and practices employed 19
for purposes of expanding production in an operation’’. 20
(b) DEADLINE.—Not later than 12 months after the 21
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator and the 22
Chief of Engineers, jointly with the Secretary, shall issue 23
a rule to revise the regulations implementing section 404 24
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reflect the 25
amendment made by subsection (a). The rule shall also 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5799.IH H5799kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
3
•HR 5799 IH
include activities and practices employed for purposes of 1
expanding production in an operation, changing crops pro-2
duced in an operation, and changing conservation systems 3
in an operation. 4
SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF FOOD SECURITY ACT OF 1985 TO 5
FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT 6
ENFORCEMENT. 7
(a) SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE DECISIONS.— 8
(1) PRIOR CONVERTED CROPLAND.— 9
(A) EFFECT OF DETERMINATION.—For 10
purposes of section 404 of the Federal Water 11
Pollution Control Act, the Chief of Engineers 12
and the Administrator shall consider land to be 13
prior converted cropland if the land has, at any 14
time, been determined by the Secretary to be 15
prior-converted cropland or commenced-conver-16
sion wetland under the Food Security Act of 17
1985. 18
(B) NO ABANDONMENT.—In carrying out 19
subparagraph (A), the Chief of Engineers and 20
the Administrator may not consider any deter-21
mination by the Secretary under the Food Se-22
curity Act of 1985 that land previously deter-23
mined to be prior-converted cropland or com-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5799.IH H5799kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
4
•HR 5799 IH
menced-conversion wetland has reverted to wet-1
land due to abandonment. 2
(2) WETLANDS.—For any land with respect to 3
which the Secretary has made a wetland delineation, 4
determination, or certification under section 1222 of 5
the Food Security Act of 1985, the Chief of Engi-6
neers and the Administrator shall apply such delin-7
eation, determination, or certification when carrying 8
out section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Con-9
trol Act. 10
(b) WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES.—For pur-11
poses of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, prior 12
converted croplands under subsection (a)(1), and any par-13
cel of land that is contiguous to, and owned by the same 14
owner as, such prior converted croplands, are not waters 15
of the United States. 16
(c) RELIANCE.—The first sentence of section 17
1222(a)(6) of the Food Security Act of 1985 shall apply 18
to enforcement actions under section 404 of the Federal 19
Water Pollution Control Act. 20
(d) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Notwithstanding section 21
706 of title 5, United States Code, a court reviewing any 22
agency action of the Secretary, the Chief of Engineers, 23
or the Administrator that is affected by this section shall 24
decide de novo all relevant questions of law, including the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5799.IH H5799kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
5
•HR 5799 IH
interpretation of constitutional and statutory provisions, 1
and rules made. If the reviewing court determines that a 2
statutory or regulatory provision relevant to its decision 3
contains a gap or ambiguity, the court shall not interpret 4
that gap or ambiguity as an implicit delegation of legisla-5
tive rule making authority and shall not rely on such gap 6
or ambiguity as a justification either for interpreting agen-7
cy authority expansively or for deferring to any interpreta-8
tion of the Secretary, the Chief of Engineers, or the Ad-9
ministrator on the question of law. Notwithstanding any 10
other provision of law, this subsection shall apply in any 11
action for judicial review of such an agency action author-12
ized under any provision of law. No law may exempt any 13
civil action for review of such an agency action from the 14
application of this subsection except by specific reference 15
to this subsection. 16
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5799.IH H5799kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
<<
/ASCII85EncodePages false
/AllowTransparency false
/AutoPositionEPSFiles true
/AutoRotatePages /None
/Binding /Left
/CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%)
/CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
/CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
/sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
/CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error
/CompatibilityLevel 1.4
/CompressObjects /Off
/CompressPages true
/ConvertImagesToIndexed true
/PassThroughJPEGImages true
/CreateJobTicket false
/DefaultRenderingIntent /Default
/DetectBlends true
/DetectCurves 0.0000
/ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged
/DoThumbnails false
/EmbedAllFonts true
/EmbedOpenType false
/ParseICCProfilesInComments true
/EmbedJobOptions true
/DSCReportingLevel 0
/EmitDSCWarnings false
/EndPage -1
/ImageMemory 1048576
/LockDistillerParams true
/MaxSubsetPct 100
/Optimize false
/OPM 1
/ParseDSCComments true
/ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true
/PreserveCopyPage true
/PreserveDICMYKValues true
/PreserveEPSInfo true
/PreserveFlatness true
/PreserveHalftoneInfo false
/PreserveOPIComments true
/PreserveOverprintSettings true
/StartPage 1
/SubsetFonts false
/TransferFunctionInfo /Preserve
/UCRandBGInfo /Preserve
/UsePrologue true
/ColorSettingsFile ()
/AlwaysEmbed [ true
]
/NeverEmbed [ true
]
/AntiAliasColorImages false
/CropColorImages true
/ColorImageMinResolution 300
/ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
/DownsampleColorImages false
/ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
/ColorImageResolution 300
/ColorImageDepth 8
/ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1
/ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
/EncodeColorImages true
/ColorImageFilter /FlateEncode
/AutoFilterColorImages false
/ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
/ColorACSImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/ColorImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/JPEG2000ColorImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/AntiAliasGrayImages false
/CropGrayImages true
/GrayImageMinResolution 300
/GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
/DownsampleGrayImages false
/GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
/GrayImageResolution 300
/GrayImageDepth 8
/GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2
/GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
/EncodeGrayImages true
/GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode
/AutoFilterGrayImages false
/GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
/GrayACSImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/GrayImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/JPEG2000GrayImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/AntiAliasMonoImages false
/CropMonoImages true
/MonoImageMinResolution 1200
/MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
/DownsampleMonoImages false
/MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
/MonoImageResolution 1200
/MonoImageDepth -1
/MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
/EncodeMonoImages true
/MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode
/MonoImageDict <<
/K -1
>>
/AllowPSXObjects false
/CheckCompliance [
/None
]
/PDFX1aCheck true
/PDFX3Check false
/PDFXCompliantPDFOnly true
/PDFXNoTrimBoxError false
/PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
]
/PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true
/PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
]
/PDFXOutputIntentProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
/PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier (CGATS TR 001)
/PDFXOutputCondition ()
/PDFXRegistryName (http://www.color.org)
/PDFXTrapped /False
/CreateJDFFile false
/Description <<
/ARA
/BGR
/CHS
/CHT
/CZE
/DAN
/DEU
/ESP
/ETI
/FRA
/GRE
/HEB
/HRV
/HUN
/ITA (Utilizzare queste impostazioni per creare documenti Adobe PDF che devono essere conformi o verificati in base a PDF/X-1a:2001, uno standard ISO per lo scambio di contenuto grafico. Per ulteriori informazioni sulla creazione di documenti PDF compatibili con PDF/X-1a, consultare la Guida dell'utente di Acrobat. I documenti PDF creati possono essere aperti con Acrobat e Adobe Reader 4.0 e versioni successive.)
/JPN
/KOR
/LTH
/LVI
/NLD (Gebruik deze instellingen om Adobe PDF-documenten te maken die moeten worden gecontroleerd of moeten voldoen aan PDF/X-1a:2001, een ISO-standaard voor het uitwisselen van grafische gegevens. Raadpleeg de gebruikershandleiding van Acrobat voor meer informatie over het maken van PDF-documenten die compatibel zijn met PDF/X-1a. De gemaakte PDF-documenten kunnen worden geopend met Acrobat en Adobe Reader 4.0 en hoger.)
/NOR
/POL
/PTB
/RUM
/RUS
/SKY
/SLV
/SUO
/SVE
/TUR
/UKR
/ENU (Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents that are to be checked or must conform to PDF/X-1a:2001, an ISO standard for graphic content exchange. For more information on creating PDF/X-1a compliant PDF documents, please refer to the Acrobat User Guide. Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 4.0 and later.)
>>
/Namespace [
(Adobe)
(Common)
(1.0)
]
/OtherNamespaces [
<<
/AsReaderSpreads false
/CropImagesToFrames true
/ErrorControl /WarnAndContinue
/FlattenerIgnoreSpreadOverrides false
/IncludeGuidesGrids false
/IncludeNonPrinting false
/IncludeSlug false
/Namespace [
(Adobe)
(InDesign)
(4.0)
]
/OmitPlacedBitmaps false
/OmitPlacedEPS false
/OmitPlacedPDF false
/SimulateOverprint /Legacy
>>
<<
/AddBleedMarks false
/AddColorBars false
/AddCropMarks false
/AddPageInfo false
/AddRegMarks false
/ConvertColors /ConvertToCMYK
/DestinationProfileName ()
/DestinationProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
/Downsample16BitImages true
/FlattenerPreset <<
/PresetSelector /HighResolution
>>
/FormElements false
/GenerateStructure false
/IncludeBookmarks false
/IncludeHyperlinks false
/IncludeInteractive false
/IncludeLayers false
/IncludeProfiles false
/MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings
/Namespace [
(Adobe)
(CreativeSuite)
(2.0)
]
/PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
/PreserveEditing true
/UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged
/UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile
/UseDocumentBleed false
>>
]
>> setdistillerparams
<<
/HWResolution [2400 2400]
/PageSize [612.000 792.000]
>> setpagedevice
Superintendent of Documents
2020-02-12T20:20:21-0500
US GPO, Washington, DC 20401
Superintendent of Documents
GPO attests that this document has not been altered since it was disseminated by GPO