Under the Clean Water Act section 401(a), the State where a project discharges must certify that the project complies with all applicable water quality standards. See Section 2.3.4(F). The State must act on the licensee's request for water quality certification of a license application within one year of receipt of that request, or its certification authority for that license is waived.¹ The licensee must file that request no later than the date the license application is filed, as discussed in Section 4.4.2(A). The State may deny the request without prejudice if, as the statutory deadline approaches, it finds that the request does not include all information required for certification or it is not otherwise prepared to take final action. A denial without prejudice effectively restarts the one-year clock. Thus, the statutory deadline applies again when the licensee then re-files the certification request. This pattern of request, denial, and re-filing of request may occur several times until the State makes the certification decision.

A special process applies if FERC determines that a flow or other discharge from a project may affect the water quality of a State downstream of the actual discharge location. In that event, FERC must notify the downstream State within 30 days of the Tendering Notice.² If the downstream State finds that the discharge in the Proposed Action will violate its water quality standards, it will notify FERC of its finding, object to the approval of the Proposed Action, and request a public hearing.³ Based on evidence presented at the hearing, FERC must condition the license in a manner that ensures compliance with the water quality standards of the downstream State.⁴ The license may not be issued if such compliance is not possible.⁵

4.5.4 ESA Formal Consultation Process

Page 102 of 143

4.5.6 Coastal Zone Consistency Process