Wetland near the Annette Nature Center in Warren County. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass a bill that Republicans say would reform the Clean Water Act and cut through regulatory burdens.

Democrats and environmental groups said the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today, or the PERMIT Act, protects water polluters and removes clean water protections.

The PERMIT Act would redefine “navigable waters” – a term key to defining the waters that are protected by the Clean Water Act – and exclude waste treatment systems, streams that flow only in direct response to precipitation, prior converted cropland, groundwater and other features decided on by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Republican-spon

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