Bill Text: MI HB4213 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Engrossed


Bill Title: Environmental protection; groundwater contamination; incentives for verification under the Michigan agriculture environmental assurance program (MAEAP); provide for. Amends secs. 8801, 8802, 8805, 8806 & 8807 of 1994 PA 451 (MCL 324.8801 et seq.) & adds sec. 3109d. TIE BAR WITH: HB 4212'11

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 22-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-02-23 - Referred To Committee On Agriculture [HB4213 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-HB4213-Engrossed.html

HB-4213, As Passed House, February 22, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBSTITUTE FOR

 

HOUSE BILL NO. 4213

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled

 

"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"

 

by amending sections 8801, 8802, 8805, 8806, and 8807 (MCL

 

324.8801, 324.8802, 324.8805, 324.8806, and 324.8807), as added by

 

1998 PA 287, and by adding section 3109d.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 3109d. (1) Beginning 6 months after the effective date of

 

the amendatory act that added this section, notwithstanding any

 

other provision of this part, the following apply to MAEAP-verified

 

farms:

 

     (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), if all of the

 

following conditions are met, the owner or operator of the MAEAP-

 

verified farm is not subject to civil fines under section 3115, but

 

may be responsible for actual natural resources damages:

 


     (i) A discharge to the waters of the state occurs from a

 

portion or operation of the farm that is MAEAP-verified and in

 

compliance with MAEAP standards.

 

     (ii) The owner or operator acted promptly to correct the

 

condition after discovery.

 

     (iii) The owner or operator reported the discharge to the

 

department within 24 hours of the discovery.

 

     (b) Subdivision (a) does not apply if either of the following

 

conditions occurs:

 

     (i) The actions of the owner or operator pose or posed a

 

substantial endangerment to the public health, safety, or welfare.

 

     (ii) The director, upon advice from the interagency technical

 

review panel provided for in section 8710, determines the owner or

 

operator has previously committed significant violations that

 

constitute a pattern of repeated violations of environmental laws,

 

rules, regulations, permit conditions, settlement agreements, or

 

orders of consent or judicial orders and that were due to separate

 

and distinct events.

 

     (c) If a MAEAP-verified farm is in compliance with all MAEAP

 

standards applicable to the farming operation, the farm is

 

considered to be implementing conservation and management practices

 

needed to meet total maximum daily load implementation for impaired

 

waters pursuant to 33 USC 1313.

 

     (d) If a discharge from a MAEAP-verified farm that is in

 

compliance with all MAEAP standards applicable to land application

 

is caused by an act of God weather event, both of the following

 

apply:

 


     (i) The discharge shall be considered nonpoint source

 

pollution.

 

     (ii) If the discharge is determined by the director with

 

scientific evidence provided by water quality data to have caused

 

an exceedance of water quality standards, the farm, within 30 days

 

of notification, shall provide to the department a report that

 

includes details of conservation or management practice changes, if

 

necessary, to further address the risk of discharge recurrence. The

 

report shall state whether those conservation or management

 

practices have already been implemented by the farm. Upon receipt

 

of the report, the department shall review the report and respond

 

within 30 days. The departmental response may include report

 

acceptance with no further action required or may recommend

 

environmentally sound and economically feasible conservation or

 

management practices to prevent future discharges.

 

     (2) This section does not modify or limit any obligation to

 

obtain a permit under this part.

 

     (3) As used in this section:

 

     (a) "Act of God weather event" means a precipitation event

 

that meets both of the following conditions:

 

     (i) Exceeds 1/2 inch in precipitation.

 

     (ii) Was forecast by the national weather service 24 hours

 

earlier as having less than a 70% probability of exceeding 1/2 inch

 

of precipitation.

 

     (b) "MAEAP-verified farm" means that term as it is defined in

 

part 87.

 

     Sec. 8801. As used in this part:

 


     (a) "Department" means the department of environmental

 

quality.

 

     (b) "Director" means the director of the department.

 

     (c) "Fund" means the clean water fund created in section 8807.

 

     (d) "Grant" means a nonpoint source pollution prevention and

 

control grant or a wellhead protection grant under this part.

 

     (e) "Local unit of government" means a county, city, village,

 

or township, or an agency of a county, city, village, or township;

 

the office of a county drain commissioner; a soil conservation

 

district established under part 93; a watershed council; a local

 

health department as defined in section 1105 of the public health

 

code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.1105; or an authority or any other

 

public body created by or pursuant to state law.

 

     (f) "MAEAP" means the Michigan agriculture environmental

 

assurance program as that term is defined in part 87.

 

     (g) "MAEAP-verified farm" means that term as it is defined in

 

part 87.

 

     (h) (f) "Nonpoint source pollution" means water pollution from

 

diffuse sources, including runoff from precipitation or snowmelt

 

contaminated through contact with pollutants in the soil or on

 

other surfaces and either infiltrating into the groundwater or

 

being discharged to surface waters, or runoff or wind causing

 

erosion of soil into surface waters.

 

     Sec. 8802. (1) The department, in consultation with the

 

department of agriculture and rural development, shall establish a

 

grants program to provide grants for nonpoint source pollution

 

prevention and control projects and wellhead protection projects.

 


The grants program shall provide grants to local units of

 

government or entities that are exempt from taxation under section

 

501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code.

 

     (2) The nonpoint source pollution prevention and control

 

grants issued under this part shall be provided for projects that

 

do either or both 1 or more of the following:

 

     (a) Implement the physical improvement portion of watershed

 

plans that are approved by the department.

 

     (b) Reduce specific nonpoint source pollution as identified by

 

the department.

 

     (c) Promote MAEAP verification.

 

     (3) The wellhead protection grants issued under this part

 

shall be provided for projects that are consistent with a wellhead

 

protection plan approved by the department and that do any of the

 

following:

 

     (a) Plug abandoned wells.

 

     (b) Provide for the purchase of land or the purchase of rights

 

in land to protect aquifer recharge areas.

 

     (c) Implement the physical improvement portion of the wellhead

 

protection plan.

 

     (4) For any grant issued under this part, a local unit of

 

government shall contribute at least 25% of the project's total

 

cost from other public or private funding sources. The department

 

may approve in-kind services to meet all or a portion of the match

 

requirement under this subsection. In addition, the department may

 

accept as the match requirement under this subsection a contract

 

between the grant applicant and the department that provides for

 


maintenance of the project or practices that are funded under terms

 

acceptable to the department. The contract shall require

 

maintenance of the project or practices throughout the period of

 

time in which the state is paying off the bonds that were issued

 

pursuant to the clean Michigan initiative act to implement this

 

part.

 

     (5) In issuing grants under this section, the department, in

 

consultation with the department of agriculture and rural

 

development, shall select projects that, to the extent practicable,

 

provide maximum benefit to the state in protecting public health

 

and the environment and contributing to economic development.

 

     Sec. 8805. Upon receipt of a grant application pursuant to

 

section 8804, the department, in consultation with the department

 

of agriculture and rural development, shall consider the projects

 

proposed to be funded and the extent that money is available for

 

grants under this part, and shall issue grants for projects that

 

the department determines will assist in the prevention or control

 

of pollution from nonpoint sources or will provide for wellhead

 

protection.

 

     Sec. 8806. Grants made under this part are subject to the

 

applicable requirements of part 196. The department, in

 

consultation with the department of agriculture and rural

 

development, shall administer this part in compliance with the

 

applicable requirements of part 196, including the reporting

 

requirements to the legislature of the grants provided under this

 

part.

 

     Sec. 8807. (1) The clean water fund is created within the

 


state treasury.

 

     (2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from

 

any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall

 

direct the investment of the fund. The state treasurer shall credit

 

to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments.

 

     (3) Money in the fund at the close of the fiscal year shall

 

remain in the fund and shall not lapse to the general fund.

 

     (4) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the

 

department, in consultation with the department of agriculture and

 

rural development, shall expend money in the fund, upon

 

appropriation, for any of the following:

 

     (a) To implement the programs described in the department's

 

document entitled "A strategic environmental quality monitoring

 

program for Michigan's surface waters", dated January 1997. In

 

implementing these programs, the department may contract with any

 

person.

 

     (b) Monitor and benchmark the effectiveness of conservation

 

practices and MAEAP standards in cooperation with participating

 

farmers.

 

     (c) Promotion of MAEAP and activities to encourage more MAEAP-

 

verified farms.

 

     (d) (b) Water pollution control activities.

 

     (e) (c) Wellhead protection activities.

 

     (f) (d) Storm water treatment projects and activities.

 

     (5) Money in the fund shall not be expended for combined sewer

 

overflow corrections.

 

     (6) The first priority for expenditure of money in the fund

 


shall be for the programs described in subsection (4)(a).

 

     (6) (7) Money in the fund shall not be expended until rules

 

are promulgated under section 8808.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect

 

unless                           House Bill No. 4212

 

              of the 96th Legislature is enacted into law.

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