Bill Summaries: S434 AMEND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS 2.

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  • Summary date: Apr 25 2017 - View Summary

    Senate committee substitute makes the following changes to the 2nd edition. 

    Amends Section 7.3 of the act, deeming any subdivision meeting the previously provided requirements detailed in the Section in compliance with the impervious surface limitations of the act and its implementing rules (previously, directs the Director of the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources to issue a Director’s Certification in fulfillment of coastal stormwater permitting requirements for any subdivision meeting the three listed requirements). Adds a new provision establishing that the provisions of this Section apply only to impervious surface built prior to January 1, 2017, and that any impervious surface built prior to January 1, 2017, is subject to SL 2008-211 (Improve Coastal Stormwater Management) and its implementing rules. 


  • Summary date: Apr 24 2017 - View Summary

    Senate amendment #1 makes the following change to the 2nd edition:

    Amends the provision directing the Environmental Management Commission to repeal 15A NCAC 02B .0243 to require the Commission to repeal the rule by July 1, 2018 (2nd edition: by December 1, 2017). Deletes the provision prohibiting enforcement of the rule until the date of its repeal.


  • Summary date: Apr 24 2017 - View Summary

    Senate committee substitute to the 2nd edition is to be summarized.


  • Summary date: Apr 21 2017 - View Summary

    Senate committee substitute makes the following changes to the 1st edition.

    New Section 1.1 repeals Part 2G (plastic bag management) of Article 9 of GS Chapter 130A, which banned plastic bags in certain coastal areas. Makes conforming changes to GS 130A-22 by removing related penalty provisions. Repeals Section 13.10(c) of SL 2010-31 (requiring in part that the Division of Waste Management and the Division of Environmental Assistance and Outreach monitor plastic bag use reduction resulting from Part 2G and report on the ban’s impacts to the Environmental Review Commission on or before January 15, 2012). Effective July 1, 2017.

    Amends Section 2 to make a technical change.

    New Section 2.1 directs the Environmental Management Commission (Commission) and the Department of Environmental Quality to implement the Protection of Existing Buffers Rule, as provided in the act, until the effective date of the revised permanent rule that the Commission is required to adopt pursuant to the act. Provides that the Protection of Existing Buffers Rule means 15A NCAC 02B .0267 (Jordan Water Supply Nutrient Strategy: Protection of Existing Riparian Buffers). Requires the Commission to exempt from the applicability requirements of the Protection of Existing Buffers Rule any publicly owned spaces where it has been determined by the head of the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over that area that the buffers pose a risk to public safety. Directs the Commission to adopt a rule to amend the Protection of Existing Buffers Rules substantively identical and consistent with the above described provision. Provides that these adopted rules are not subject to Part 3 of Article 2A of GS Chapter 150B and become effective as provided in GS 150B-21.3(b1) as though 10 or more written objections had been received as provided in GS 150B-21.3(b2). Provides that new Section 2.1 expires when permanent rules adopted as required by the Section become effective.

    Amends Section 3, enacting new GS 113-201(d), to require the Secretary of Environmental Quality to only issue nontransferable leases within designated Shellfish Aquaculture Enterprise Areas (previously, limited the issuance of nontransferable leases within the Areas to NC residents).

    Amends Section 5 to delete the provisions appropriating funds to the North Carolina Sea Grant at North Carolina State University (Sea Grant) to study existing science regarding the current and projected future status of river herring populations in state waters.

    Deletes previous Section 7 of the act, which amended GS 113-129 to provide a list of invasive species, and enacted GS 113-292.1 (Control of invasive species).

    New Section 7 amends GS 113B-4 to authorize the Lt. Governor to appoint a designee to serve as the chair of the Energy Policy Council in the Lt. Governor’s place.

    New Section 7.1 amends SL 2016-94, Section 14.13(c), to require the entity, designated under that Section to conduct a study on Falls Lake, to report its final results by December 31, 2023 (was, December 31, 2021), and its second interim update by December 31, 2021 (was, December 31, 2020). Amends Section 14.13(d) to direct the Environmental Management Commission to begin rule readoption for the Jordan Lake Water Supply Nutrient Strategy within six months after receiving the completed study and final recommendations prepared under Section 14.13(c), and for Falls Water Supply Nutrient Strategy either upon receipt of the completed study under Section 14.13(c), or December 31, 2024, whichever is earlier. Amends Section 14.13(h) to continue the effectiveness of provisions of Falls Lake rules which establish Stage I reduction actions and goals until the Falls Lake rules under Section 14.13(d) become effective, and delays the due dates for reduction actions and goals to be completed by December 31, 2020, as well as those identified as Stage II in the Falls Lake rules, until Falls Lake rules modified under Section 14.13(d) become effective.

    New Section 7.2 amends SL 1999-329, Section 7.1, deleting the provisions authorizing the Environmental Management Commission to adopt temporary rules to protect water quality standards and uses for the Catawba River Basin. Directs the Environmental Management Commission to repeal 15A NCAC 02B .0243 (Catawba River Basin: Protection and Maintenance of Existing Riparian Buffers) by December 1, 2017, and prohibits enforcement or implementation of that rule until it is repealed.

    New Section 7.3 directs the Director of the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources to issue a Director’s Certification in fulfillment of coastal stormwater permitting requirements for any subdivision meeting three listed requirements, including that the subdivision’s declaration of covenants was recorded with the Register of Deeds in 1993.


  • Summary date: Mar 29 2017 - View Summary

    Amends GS 130A-290 to define the term yard trash to mean solid waste resulting from landscaping and yard maintenance, including brush, grass, tree limbs, and similar vegetative material. Adds and defines the term yard waste to mean yard trash and land-clearing debris, including stumps, limbs, leaves, grass, and untreated wood.

    Amends GS 130A-294 by adding that yard waste diverted from the waste stream or collected as source separated material is not subject to a solid waste permit for transfer, treatment, processing, storage, or disposal in a permitted solid waste management facility. Specifies that operators of facilities where yard waste is subject to transfer, treatment, processing, storage, or disposal must comply with all other federal, state, or local laws, ordinances, rules, regulations, or orders. Specifies that this does not limit local government authority to manage the transfer, treatment, processing, storage, or disposal of yard waste. 

    The above provisions apply to the transfer, treatment, processing, storage, or disposal of yard waste occurring on or after July 1, 2017.

    Sets out General Assembly findings concerning nutrient pollution and riparian buffers.

    Amends GS 143-214.23A, concerning limitations on local government riparian buffer requirements, as follows. Replaces the term local government ordinance with the term local government action and amends the definition of the term so that it now includes local government ordinances, conditions of approval imposed on applicants for a development plan approval, and special or conditional permits. Expands on the definition of the term riparian buffer requirement to also include any other hydrologic bodies to which a riparian buffer may be applied (in addition to setbacks from surface water).

    Prohibits a local government from enacting, implementing, or enforcing a local government action or applying for or renewing a permit issued by a State or federal agency that requires a local government action that establishes a riparian buffer requirement exceeding requirements directly imposed by State or federal law. Excludes permits required by a federal agency as a condition of federal funding or federal approval for a project initiated before the effective date of the statute. Local governments violating this prohibition that are required by a permit issued by a State or federal agency remain in place and may be enforced until the permit expires. Makes conforming changes.

    Amends GS 113-201 to allow the Marine Fisheries Commission to adopt rules to establish Shellfish Aquaculture Enterprise Areas to facilitate shellfish aquaculture opportunities through advanced siting and preapprovals from relevant federal and State agencies. Requires the Secretary of Environmental Quality to only issue nontransferrable leases to residents of the state within designated Shellfish Aquaculture Enterprise Areas. Reverts any relinquished or terminated leased parcel within a Shellfish Aquaculture Enterprise Area to the State, to be made available to other applicants. Amends GS 113-201.1 to define Shellfish Aquaculture Enterprise Area as an area designated and permitted by the Department of Environmental Quality that is subdivided into parcels and made available for shellfish aquaculture leasing.

    Amends GS 113-203 to make it illegal to transplant oysters or clams from public grounds or permitted aquaculture operations using waters in the prohibited, restricted, or conditionally approved classification (was, in the restricted or conditionally approved classification) to private beds, except when done in accordance with the statue and implementing rules. Prohibits the transplanting of seed oysters or seed clams taken from permitted aquaculture operations that use waters in the prohibited, restricted, or conditionally approved classification to private beds pursuant to a permit, when the Secretary of Environmental Quality determines that the nursery of shellfish in an area will present a risk to public health. Amends GS 113-168.4 to allow licensed individuals to sell fish taken outside the state's territorial waters or taken from coastal fishing waters if the sale is of fish reared in (was, oysters or clams from) a hatchery or aquaculture operation to the holder of an Aquaculture Operation Permit, an Under Dock Culture Permit, or a shellfish cultivation lease for further grow out.

    Requires the Division of Marine Fisheries (Division) to review its Fishery Management Plan for river herring (blueback herring and alewife) and report by December 15, 2017, to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources on the continuing validity and scientific basis for the continued status of both species as "overfished." Sets out required information if the Division does not have an adequate scientific basis to review the status of both species.

    Appropriates $100,000 in nonrecurring funds from the General Fund to North Carolina Sea Grant at North Carolina State University (Sea Grant) to study existing science regarding the current and projected future status of river herring populations in state waters. Specifies issues that must be examined in the study. Requires that if the Sea Grant determines that further study is required, Sea Grant must include in its report a research plan, time line, funding needs, and possible research partners that minimizes duplication with other public and private nonprofit organizations studying river herring fisheries issues in the State.

    Allows the Division of Coastal Management of the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Property Office to negotiate with the federal government an agreement for the State to assume responsibility for acquiring dredged material easement sites appropriate for maintenance dredging of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway between Beaufort Inlet and the border with Virginia in exchange for the reduction in size and possible change in location of dredged material disposal easement sites currently held by the federal government. Sets out additional requirements for the agreement. Amends GS 143-215.73F to allow money in the The Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund to be used to provide funding for siting and acquisition of dredged disposal easement sites associated with the maintenance of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway north of Beaufort Inlet and south of the Virginia border, under a memorandum of agreement between the states and federal government.

    Recodifies GS 113-129(10a) as (10b) and enacts a new (10a) which establishes that the following are considered invasive species: brown tree snake, bullfrog, burmese python, coyote, European starling, feral swine, house sparrow, nutria, and red fox. Enacts new GS 113-292.1 requiring the Wildlife Resources Commission (Commission) to issue rules establishing open season and manner of take requirements in all counties of the state for all invasive species that the Commission determines to be game animals or birds. Requires the Commission to develop a program to encourage control of those invasive species that the Commission finds are not game animal or birds by State agencies, local governments, private landowners, hunters, and trappers. Repeals any local acts that conflict with the statute to the extent of the conflict. 

    Includes a severability clause.

     


  • Summary date: Mar 28 2017 - View Summary

    To be summarized.