Your public comments are needed by February 17, 2026.

The Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a new rule gutting the Clean Water Act “certification” regulations that allow States and Tribes to condition or deny certification for Federally-permitted activities that would violate State or Tribal water quality requirements.

In Minnesota, the State has imposed conditions on Federal general permits and activities to prevent degradation, and protect streams, Exceptional Aquatic Life Use waters, and Outstanding Resource Value waters. The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has exercised its Clean Water Act certification authority as a downstream Tribe with treatment as a state, to object to the PolyMet federal wetlands destruction permit, resulting in the permit’s revocation.

States and Tribes across the United States rely on certification to protect clean water in their communities from contamination resulting from inadequate, politically-motivated, or reckless federal permitting of facilities and activities.

Certification is an important guardrail to ensure that Federal action and corporate polluters do not pollute streams, lakes, rivers, and wetlands in complete disregard for State and Tribal water quality requirements.

How would the 2026 EPA Proposed Rule Affect Certification?

1. The Proposed Rule would eliminate regulation facilitating Tribal certification authority for treatment as a state. The Rule would erase all existing regulatory language that supports neighboring/downstream Tribes in requiring conditions or denial of Federal permits that would cause violations of Reservation water quality requirements.
2. The Proposed Rule would prevent any State or Tribe from setting conditions on Federal “general permits” that apply across the United States. No conditions could be set to prevent degradation and no Exceptional Aquatic Life Use waters or Outstanding Resource Value waters could be protected.
3. The Proposed Rule would tighten a noose around the scope of certification to prevent conditions on or denial of permits, even if they would pollute and degrade lakes and streams due to wetlands destruction, waste stockpiling, or contaminated seepage through groundwater into surface water.
4. The Proposed Rule would force involuntary waiver of certification if the State or Tribal process was not completed within one-year, even if the extra time was needed due to public process, lack of sufficient information to make a decision, or even acts of God.
5. The Proposed Rule would allow project applicants to exploit the new forced waiver Rule by requesting certification of its “draft” application and incomplete water-related data. The polluter could then do a bait-and-switch and disclose the real plan and its impacts on water after the one-year time limit on certification had ended.
6. The Proposed Rule would centralize review of State and Tribal certification in the Administrator or its designee. That political appointee would have the power to determine that an entire category of discharge would never have an “affect” on downstream States or Tribes.

The Trump EPA’s 2026 Proposed Rule on certification is inconsistent with and unlawful under the Clean Water Act. It will undermine the purpose of the Act to eliminate the discharge of pollutants and to achieve water quality levels that are fishable and swimmable and drag us back to the days when rivers burned.

Your Written Comments to EPA by Feb. 17 Will Take a Stand to Resist Pollution of Minnesota’s Life-Giving Waters and to Protect State and Tribal Authority to Prevent Violation of Water Quality Requirements.

1. You can comment through the EPA online comment portal by clicking this link. Make sure to say that your comment is on Docket ID # EPA-HQ-OW-2025-2929. Feel free to cut and paste any materials on this page as you make your direct, individualized comment.
2. You can also use the comment template below, with any personalized changes you would like to make. Your comment on this form will be sent directly to OW-Docket@epa.gov, the official email for EPA comments on this docket. If you choose to send a separate email to EPA, please make sure to include the Docket ID# EPA-HQ-OW-2025-2929 in the subject line.

Mail Option & Support

You can also mail your comment to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Water Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460. Please make sure to include the Docket ID# EPA-HQ-OW-2025-2929 if you choose to use this method.

Please contact sophia@waterlegacy.org if you are having any difficulty submitting your comment.