WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Mining Association (NMA) today issued the following statement from Rich Nolan, NMA President & CEO, following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement updating regulations on Water Quality Certification.
“We hope that EPA’s action today will help end the abuse of the section 401 permitting process, which has been used to obstruct projects for reasons that had nothing to do with protecting water quality. Decisions on 401 applications have dragged out for years, putting projects in jeopardy and exacerbating the already woefully inefficient permitting process hampering so many U.S. mining projects. This new clarity on the timeframes for certification, the scope of certification review and other procedures, is an important step in promoting smart investment in our country’s natural resources and infrastructure projects.”
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