View source for Refuse Act

{{Short description|United States federal statute}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| shorttitle        = Refuse Act
| othershorttitles  = Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899
| longtitle         = An Act making appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes.
| colloquialacronym = 
| nickname          = Refuse Act of 1899
| enacted by        = 55th
| effective date    = March 3, 1899
| public law url    =
| cite public law   = {{USPL|55|425}}
| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|30|1121}} ''aka'' 30 Stat. 1152
| acts amended    = 
| acts repealed   = 
| title amended   = [[Title 33 of the United States Code|33 U.S.C.: Navigable Waters]]
| sections created = {{Usc-title-chap|33|9|I}} § 407
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| signedpresident = [[William McKinley]]
| signeddate      = March 3, 1899
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The '''Refuse Act''' is a [[United States]] federal [[statute]] governing use of [[waterway]]s.  The Act, a section of the [[Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899]], prohibited "dumping of [[refuse]]" into [[navigable waters]], except by permit.<ref>{{USC|33|407}}.</ref>

==Implementation history==
The [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] administered the Act and initially focused on controlling debris that obstructed navigation.<ref name="EPA-NPDES">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, DC. (1973). [http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=2000V0FW.txt "Explanatory Statement: Implementation of the 'National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System' Pursuant to Section 402, Federal Water Pollution Amendments of 1972."] 1973-02-07.</ref>{{rp|3}}

===Pollution control litigation in the 1960s===
In the 1960s, due to increasing public and governmental concern about [[water pollution]], the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] began to use the Act to control pollution.<ref>EPA (1971). [http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=2000FIKR.txt "Toward a New Environmental Ethic."] Pamphlet, September 1971. pp. 14-15.</ref> The government pursued court cases to prosecute dischargers of [[industrial waste]] to waterways. Notable cases include ''United States v. Republic Steel Corp.'' (1960) <ref>''U.S. v. Republic Steel Corp.,'' {{ussc|362|482|1960}}.</ref> and ''U.S. v. Standard Oil Co.'' (1966).<ref>''U.S. v. Standard Oil Co.,'' {{ussc|384|224|1966}}.</ref>

===1970 Discharge permit program===
[[United States Congress|Congress]] had enacted the [[Federal Water Pollution Control Act]] (FWPCA) in 1948 to address water pollution problems, but this law gave the government limited enforcement authority. The [[United States Department of Interior|Department of Interior]], which administered the FWPCA (prior to 1972), developed a policy with the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] and the Army Corps of Engineers to use the Refuse Act as an enforcement tool, to complement the FWPCA. In 1970 President [[Richard Nixon]] issued an [[Executive order (United States)|Executive Order]] creating a new permit program under the Refuse Act. The focus of the new permit program was on industrial pollution.<ref name="EPA-NPDES" />{{rp|3-6}}<ref>{{ExecutiveOrder|11574}}, 1970-12-23.</ref>

The Corps of Engineers began to issue the new discharge permits, but in 1971 a legal challenge halted the program.<ref>''Kalur v. Resor,'' 335 [[F. Supp.]] 1, [[D.D.C.]] 1971.</ref>

==1972 FWPCA Amendments==
Congress enacted major amendments to the FWPCA in 1972. (''See'' [[Clean Water Act]].) Included in the legislation was a new discharge permit program, called the ''National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System'' ([[NPDES]]), which replaced the Refuse Act permit program.<ref>{{USC|33|1342}}.</ref> The amendments assigned lead responsibility for implementation of NPDES to the newly formed [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA).

Congress did not repeal the Refuse Act. The law is still used by the Corps of Engineers to prevent obstructions to navigation. In some pollution enforcement cases, the federal government has used it as a supplemental authority along with the FWPCA.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{William McKinley}}
{{US Environmental law}}

[[Category:United States federal environmental legislation]]
[[Category:Water pollution in the United States]]
[[Category:1899 in the environment]]
[[Category:1899 in American law]]