AB 547

This bill exempts nonfederal and artificial wetlands from certain Department

of Natural Resources wetland permitting requirements and, if the Environmental

Protection Agency delegates to the state the authority to administer its own permit

program for the discharge of dredge or fill material into navigable waters, authorizes

DNR to assume that authority.

Under current federal law, generally, a person must obtain a permit from the

federal government for discharges to wetlands that are under the jurisdiction of the

federal government. Federal law requires an applicant to submit with a permit

application a certification from the state that the proposed discharge will comply

with state water quality standards or that the state has waived such certification.

In this state, DNR grants this certification by issuing a state wetland permit. Under

current law, DNR must issue wetland general permits for discharges of dredged or

fill material into certain wetlands and may 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.

The bill exempts wetlands that are not subject to federal jurisdiction

(nonfederal wetlands) from state wetland permitting requirements. Generally

speaking, only wetlands that are adjacent to navigable waters are subject to federal

jurisdiction. The bill continues to require the mitigation of impacts from a discharge

to a nonfederal wetland, which under current law is required before DNR may issue

a wetland individual permit.

The bill also excludes artificial wetlands from the definition of a wetland,

thereby exempting these wetlands from the permitting and mitigation requirements

that apply to the discharge of dredged or fill material into a wetland. Under the bill,

an artificial wetland is a nonfederal wetland created by human modifications to the

landscape or hydrology and for which DNR has no definitive evidence showing a prior

wetland or stream history, but does not include a wetland created under a mitigation

requirement. Under current rules promulgated by DNR, only certain artificial

wetlands are exempt from the wetland permitting requirements and only if DNR

determines that significant functional values are not present.

Under current federal law, a state's governor may apply to the EPA requesting

that the state be delegated the authority to administer its own individual and

general permit program for the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable

waters, including federal wetlands, in place of the federal regulatory program. This

bill authorizes DNR to submit such an application on behalf of and at the direction

of the governor and authorizes DNR to assume that authority if the EPA delegates

it to the state.

The bill also requires DNR to expend all moneys received prior to the effective