The discharge of dredged or fill material into artificial wetlands and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority

Current law allows DNR to establish different requirements, conditions, and exceptions in general permits to ensure that the discharges will cause only minimal adverse environmental effects. A person who wishes to proceed with a discharge that is covered by a general permit must notify DNR. If DNR does not request additional information or notify the person that an individual permit will be required within 30 days after receipt of the notification, the person may proceed with the discharge.

Current law also authorizes DNR to require a person to apply for and obtain a wetland individual permit if DNR determines that conditions specific to the site require additional restrictions on the discharge in order to provide reasonable assurance that no significant adverse impacts to wetland functional values will occur. Also under current law, before DNR may issue a wetland individual permit, it must require the restoration, enhancement, creation, or preservation of other wetlands to compensate for adverse impacts to a wetland resulting from the discharge, also known as mitigation.

Under current rules promulgated by DNR, certain artificial wetlands are exempt from the wetland permitting requirements unless DNR determines that significant functional values are present. This bill exempts from these permitting requirements a discharge to any artificial wetland. The bill defines an artificial wetland as a wetland inadvertently created by human modifications to the landscape or hydrology and for which there is no prior wetland or stream history, but excludes from the definition a wetland that is subject to federal jurisdiction and a wetland that serves as a fish spawning area or a passage to a fish spawning area.