2026年8月13日 美国东部时间早上6:00 / 福克斯新闻频道
《清洁水法》第404(c)条未对美国环保署（EPA）的否决权限设置时限，这令行业团体感到担忧
作者：伊莱恩·马伦 福克斯新闻
美国环保署署长李·泽尔丁与众议员康涅狄格州民主党人罗莎·德劳罗就《清洁空气法》和气候变化展开激烈交锋。
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唐纳德·特朗普总统推动快速推进能源和基础设施项目的努力，可能会因美国环保署的否决权而受挫——该机构甚至可以在项目获得许可后叫停工程。
美国环保署的否决权源自《清洁水法》第404(c)条，该条款允许环保署在认定疏浚或填埋材料的倾倒可能造成“不可接受的不利影响”时，阻止或限制倾倒地点。但该法律并未对这项权限设置明确时限，这为 preemptive（先发制人）和追溯性否决都留下了空间。
而这项条款已经得到了实践检验。
2011年，该机构利用这一条款阻止了西弗吉尼亚州明戈·洛根煤炭公司云杉1号煤矿的倾倒场作业，此时距离美国陆军工程兵团发放许可已经过去了四年。这场争端最终上诉至联邦上诉法院，法院作出了有利于环保署的裁决。
特朗普的再工业化议程面临最大障碍——美国民众
一张拼接图片：美国西弗吉尼亚州伦敦市的猛犸选煤厂与唐纳德·特朗普总统。（卢克·沙雷特/彭博社 via 盖蒂图片社 | 亚历克斯·王/盖蒂图片社摄）
“修复环保署否决权联盟”高级顾问迈伦·埃贝尔表示，该法律赋予环保署广泛权限，即便美国陆军工程兵团已经发放许可，仍可否决或撤销许可，这可能让已开工项目在未来政府任期内面临风险。
“环保运动和气候运动团体紧盯所有与化石燃料相关的项目，因此任何可能引发争议和政治风波的项目——这些团体能够将其政治化的项目——在我看来，都会面临被否决的威胁，我认为这会让投资者和企业远离所有这类项目，”埃贝尔说道。
“这就是为什么我们希望让本届政府关注这个问题，它可能会破坏他们为加快审批流程所做的所有有益工作，”埃贝尔补充道，他曾在特朗普首届政府任职前领导环保署过渡团队。
由多个州能源商业团体组成的该联盟希望国会修改法律，同时也向特朗普政府施压，要求其制定一项环保署规则，限制该机构行使否决权的时机。
戈萨奇暗示最高法院对特朗普的裁决是针对行政国家的先发制人之举
“改善现状的方法是让环保署为这一条款设定一些限制和约束，但这并不能彻底解决问题，因为未来的政府可以撤销这项规则，不过撤销规则需要时间，”埃贝尔说。
国会也在考虑更永久的解决方案。去年12月，众议院通过了《许可法案》，该法案将限制环保署使用第404(c)条否决权的时机。根据该法案，环保署只能在提交完整许可申请后、许可发放前行使这项权限。但该法案目前已在参议院环境与公共工程委员会陷入停滞。
竞争企业研究所能源与环境中心主任达伦·巴克斯特在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时表示，国会行动将提供最有力的保护，但他认为本届政府也应审视环保署在现有法律框架下可以采取的行动。
美国环保署署长李·泽尔丁在华盛顿国家大草坪举办的伟大美国州博览会上的环保署小组讨论前的后台准备。（格雷姆·斯隆/彭博社 via 盖蒂图片社）
“归根结底，国会确实需要在此采取行动，但你必须多管齐下，必须同时兼顾多件事，”巴克斯特说。
巴克斯特表示，特朗普发布的一项强调该问题的行政命令，可能会向环保署施压，促使其寻求持久的行政解决方案，同时向议员们发出信号，表明第404(c)条条款应在更广泛的许可改革立法中得到解决。
“如果特朗普总统发布这项行政命令，可能有助于切实传递本届政府重视将第404(c)条否决问题纳入许可改革一揽子计划的信号，”巴克斯特说。
特朗普任命的环保署署长驳斥将气候怀疑论者贴上“否认科学者”标签的行为
巴克斯特警告称，环保署能否通过监管措施绝对禁止所有追溯性否决，在法律上仍不确定。但他表示，该机构可以施加限制，包括要求官员考虑对许可持有人造成的成本以及他们对已发放许可的依赖。
“许可持有人的依赖度、相关考量以及成本，这些都是[环保署]可以明确要求必须纳入考虑的因素，”巴克斯特说。
传统基金会能源、气候与环境高级研究员杰森·海耶斯表示，环保署应保留一些权限，以叫停真正构成不可接受环境风险的项目，但他认为当前的权限范围过于宽泛。
在这张2018年7月27日的资料照片中，戴夫·约翰逊燃煤电厂在怀俄明州格伦洛克的晨阳映衬下呈现出剪影效果。特朗普政府即将完成其数十项环境法规 rollbacks（放松管制）中规模最大的一项，取代了一项旨在让美国电网摆脱燃煤电厂及其造成气候变化的烟囱排放的标志性举措。（美联社照片/J.大卫·阿克）
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“虽然环保署保留有限权限，在出现真正不可接受的环境影响风险时叫停项目是合理的，但《清洁水法》第404(c)条赋予该机构的权限过于宽泛。目前，该机构拥有无限制的否决权，可以在许可申请提交前、审核期间，甚至在许可获批且工程已经开工后叫停项目，”海耶斯说。
在6月份的一封信中，美国商会也提出了类似诉求，呼吁环保署、环境质量委员会和陆军工程兵团制定一项规则，禁止环保署在第404条许可发放后否决该许可。
“撤销或先发制人地阻止已获许可项目的能力，会削弱人们对许可制度的信心，甚至在项目已经符合既定要求的情况下也会抑制投资，”美国商会政策高级副总裁兼全球能源研究所主席马蒂·德宾写道。
尽管明戈·洛根案仍是环保署唯一一次对已发放许可实施追溯性否决的案例，但巴克斯特警告称，这项权限仍对未来项目构成威胁。
“尽管仅有一例追溯性否决的案例，但人们担心这项权力可能被滥用，而且确实会被滥用，”巴克斯特说。
“如果你连已经拿到的许可都无法信任，那么我们面临的就是一个严重的问题，”巴克斯特继续说道。
福克斯新闻数字频道已联系白宫和环保署置评。
伊莱恩·马伦是福克斯新闻数字频道和福克斯商业频道的记者，报道全国政治新闻。
Trump-approved energy projects at risk of sudden death by next hostile president
August 13, 2026 6:00am EDT / Fox News
Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act sets no time limit on EPA’s authority to block disposal sites, alarming industry groups
By Elaine Mallon, Fox News
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin got into a heated exchange with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., over the Clean Air Act and climate change.
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President Donald Trump’s push to fast-track energy and infrastructure projects could be undercut by an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) veto authority that allows the agency to block projects even after permits are issued.
EPA’s veto authority stems from Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act, which allows the agency to block or limit where dredged or fill material can be dumped if it determines the disposal could cause “unacceptable adverse effects.” But the law sets no explicit time limit on that authority, leaving the door open to both preemptive and retroactive vetoes.
And it has already been put to the test.
In 2011, the agency used the provision to block disposal sites for Mingo Logan Coal Co.’s Spruce No. 1 mine in West Virginia, four years after the Army Corps of Engineers had issued a permit. The dispute ultimately reached a federal appeals court, which ruled in EPA’s favor.
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A split image of Mammoth Preparation Plant in London, West Virginia, U.S. and President Donald Trump.(Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Myron Ebell, a senior advisor to the Fix the EPA Veto Coalition, said the statute gives EPA broad authority to veto or revoke permits even after the Army Corps of Engineers has issued them, potentially putting projects already under construction at risk under future administrations.
“The environmental movement and the climate movement groups are focused on anything related to fossil fuels, and so any project that is likely to become controversial and political that they can make — that these groups can make politically controversial — would then seem to me to be, have the threat of a veto, and that would, I think, that would just drive away investors and companies from all these projects,” Ebell said.
“So that’s why we want to focus the administration’s attention on this problem that could undo all of the good work that they’re doing to speed up permitting,” said Ebell, who headed the EPA transition team before Trump’s first administration.
The coalition, which consists of several state energy business groups, wants Congress to change the law but is also pressing the Trump administration to enact an EPA rule limiting when the agency may exercise its veto authority.
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“The way to improve the situation is to get the EPA to put some sideboards and some constraints on the provision, and that would not solve the problem because a future administration could undo that rule, but it takes time to undo a rule,” Ebell said.
Congress is also considering a more permanent solution. Last December, the House passed the PERMIT Act, which would limit when EPA can use its Section 404(c) veto power. Under the bill, the agency could use the authority only after a complete permit application is submitted and before the permit is issued. But the legislation has since stalled in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Daren Bakst, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, told Fox News Digital that congressional action would provide the strongest protection but argued that the administration should also examine what EPA can accomplish under existing law.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin backstage before an EPA panel discussion during the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Ultimately, Congress really has to do something here, but you got to work multiple angles, and you have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Bakst said.
Bakst said an executive order from Trump highlighting the issue could pressure EPA to pursue a durable administrative solution while signaling to lawmakers that the Section 404(c) provision should be addressed in broader permitting legislation.
“If President Trump issued the executive order, it might help provide a real signal of the importance that the administration places on having such a 404(c) veto issue included into the permitting reform package,” Bakst said.
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Bakst cautioned that it remains legally uncertain whether EPA could categorically prohibit all retroactive vetoes through regulation. But he said the agency could impose constraints, including requiring officials to consider costs imposed on permit holders and their reliance on previously issued permits.
“The reliance, the consideration, the cost, and the reliance interests of the permit holder are certainly things that [EPA] can make it very clear have to be considered,” Bakst said.
Jason Hayes, a senior research fellow for energy, climate and environment at The Heritage Foundation, said EPA should retain some authority to stop projects that pose genuinely unacceptable environmental risks but argued that the current authority is too broad.
In this July 27, 2018, file photo, the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyo. The Trump administration is close to completing one of the biggest of its dozens of rollbacks of environmental rules, replacing a landmark effort to wean the nation’s electrical grid off coal-fired power plants and their climate-changing smokestack emissions.(AP Photo/J. David Ake)
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“While it is reasonable for EPA to retain a limited authority to halt a project when there is potential for a genuinely unacceptable environmental impact, the authority granted to the agency under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act is too broad. Currently, the agency has an open-ended veto and can shut down a project before the permit application is filed, while it is under review, or after the permit has been approved and work has already begun,” Hayes said.
In a June letter, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce made a similar push, calling on EPA, the Council on Environmental Quality and the Army Corps to pursue a rule barring EPA from vetoing a Section 404 permit after it has been issued.
“The ability to undo or preemptively block permitted projects undermines confidence in the permitting system and can chill investment even where projects have complied with established requirements,” Marty Durbin, senior vice president of policy and president of the Global Energy Institute at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, wrote.
While Mingo Logan remains EPA’s only retroactive veto of an issued permit, Bakst warned that the authority still poses a threat to future projects.
“Even though there’s only been one example of the retroactive vetoes, the fear is that it can be used, and it would be used,” Bakst said.
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“If you can’t even rely on a permit that you’ve already gotten, then I mean, we’ve got a serious problem,” Bakst continued.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the EPA for comment.
Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.
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