Bill Text: MI SB0185 | 2015-2016 | 98th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Environmental protection; water pollution; disposal of water-softening residuals through certain permitted facilities; authorize. Amends secs. 3101 & 3112a of 1994 PA 451 (MCL 324.3101 & 324.3112a) & adds sec. 3109f.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-05 - Referred To Committee On Natural Resources [SB0185 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2015-SB0185-Introduced.html

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SENATE BILL No. 185

 

 

March 5, 2015, Introduced by Senators MACGREGOR, HORN, CASPERSON, GREEN, PAVLOV and ROBERTSON and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled

 

"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"

 

by amending sections 3101 and 3112a (MCL 324.3101 and 324.3112a),

 

section 3101 as amended by 2006 PA 97 and section 3112a as amended

 

by 2004 PA 72, and by adding section 3109f.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 3101. As used in this part:

 

     (a) "Aquatic nuisance species" means a nonindigenous species

 

that threatens the diversity or abundance of native species or the

 

ecological stability of infested waters, or commercial,

 

agricultural, aquacultural, or recreational activities dependent on

 

such these waters.

 

     (b) "Ballast water" means water and associated solids taken on

 

board a vessel to control or maintain trim, draft, stability, or

 

stresses on the vessel, without regard to the manner in which it is

 

carried.

 

     (c) "Ballast water treatment method" means a method of

 

treating ballast water and sediments to remove or destroy living

 

biological organisms through 1 or more of the following:

 

     (i) Filtration.

 

     (ii) The application of biocides or ultraviolet light.

 

     (iii) Thermal methods.

 

     (iv) Other treatment techniques approved by the department.

 

     (d) "Department" means the department of environmental

 

quality.

 

     (e) "Detroit consumer price index" means the most

 

comprehensive index of consumer prices available for the Detroit

 

area from the United States department of labor, bureau of labor

 

statistics.

 

     (f) "Emergency management coordinator" means that term as

 

defined in section 2 of the emergency management act, 1976 PA 390,

 

MCL 30.402.

 

     (g) "Great Lakes" means the Great Lakes and their connecting

 

waters, including Lake St. Clair.

 

     (h) "Group 1 facility" means a facility whose discharge is

 

described by R 323.2218 of the Michigan administrative code.

 

     (i) "Group 2 facility" means a facility whose discharge is

 

described by R 323.2210(y), R 323.2215, or R 323.2216 of the

 

Michigan administrative code.

 

     (j) "Group 3 facility" means a facility whose discharge is

 

described by R 323.2211 or R 323.2213 of the Michigan

 

administrative code.

 

     (k) "Local health department" means that term as defined in

 

section 1105 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.1105.

 

     (l) "Local unit" means a county, city, village, or township or

 

an agency or instrumentality of any of these entities.

 

     (m) "Municipality" means this state, a county, city, village,

 

or township, or an agency or instrumentality of any of these

 

entities.

 

     (n) "National response center" means the national

 

communications center established under the clean water act, 33 USC

 

1251 to 1387, located in Washington, DC, that receives and relays

 

notice of oil discharge or releases of hazardous substances to

 

appropriate federal officials.

 

     (o) "Nonoceangoing vessel" means a vessel that is not an

 

oceangoing vessel.

 

     (p) "Oceangoing vessel" means a vessel that operates on the

 

Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence waterway after operating in waters

 

outside of the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence waterway.

 

     (q) "Open water disposal of contaminated dredge materials"

 

means the placement of dredge materials contaminated with toxic

 

substances as defined in R 323.1205 of the Michigan administrative

 

code into the open waters of the waters of the state but does not

 

include the siting or use of a confined disposal facility

 

designated by the United States army corps of engineers or beach

 

nourishment activities utilizing uncontaminated materials.

 

     (r) "Primary public safety answering point" means that term as

 

defined in section 102 of the emergency telephone 9-1-1 service

 

enabling act, 1986 PA 32, MCL 484.1102.

 

     (s) "Sediments" means any matter settled out of ballast water

 

within a vessel.

 

     (t) "Sewage sludge" means sewage sludge generated in the

 

treatment of domestic sewage, other than only septage or industrial

 

waste.

 

     (u) "Sewage sludge derivative" means a product for land

 

application derived from sewage sludge that does not include solid

 

waste or other waste regulated under this act.

 

     (v) "Sewage sludge generator" means a person who generates

 

sewage sludge that is applied to land.

 

     (w) "Sewage sludge distributor" means a person who applies,

 

markets, or distributes, except at retail, a sewage sludge

 

derivative.

 

     (x) "St. Lawrence waterway" means the St. Lawrence river, the

 

St. Lawrence seaway, and the gulf of St. Lawrence.

 

     (y) "Surface water" means all of the following, but does not

 

include drainage ways and ponds used solely for wastewater

 

conveyance, treatment, or control if the drainage ways and ponds

 

are specifically designed for wastewater conveyance, treatment, or

 

control:

 

     (i) The Great Lakes and their connecting waters.

 

     (ii) Inland lakes.

 

     (iii) Rivers.

 

     (iv) Streams.

 

     (v) Impoundments.

 

     (vi) Open drains.

 

     (vii) Wetlands.

 

     (viii) Other surface bodies of water.

 

     (z) (y) "Threshold reporting quantity" means that term as

 

defined in R 324.2002 of the Michigan administrative code.

 

     (aa) "Wastewater" means liquid waste discharged directly or

 

indirectly into the waters of the state or onto the ground that

 

results from industrial and commercial processes or municipal

 

operations, including liquid or water-carried process water, water

 

softening lime residuals, cooling and condensing waters, and

 

sanitary sewage.

 

     (bb) (z) "Waters of the state" means groundwaters , lakes,

 

rivers, and streams and all other watercourses and waters,

 

including the Great Lakes, and surface waters within the

 

jurisdiction of this state.

 

     Sec. 3109f. Notwithstanding any other provision of this part

 

or the rules promulgated under this part, a public water treatment

 

plant that uses a drainage way or pond for the disposal of water

 

softening residuals through facilities for the conveyance,

 

treatment, or control of wastewater that were permitted by the

 

state prior to January 1, 2013 is not required to obtain a

 

wastewater discharge permit under this part and may continue to use

 

those facilities for the duration of the useful life of those

 

permitted facilities. The use of permitted facilities under this

 

section includes maintenance, repair, and replacement of the

 

facilities consistent with the design of the facilities as they

 

were originally permitted. A drainage way or pond described in this

 

section is considered to be a drainage way or pond specifically

 

designed for wastewater conveyance, treatment, or control.

 

     Sec. 3112a. (1) Except for sewer systems described in

 

subsection (8), if untreated sewage or partially treated sewage is

 

directly or indirectly discharged from a sewer system onto land or

 

into the waters of the state, the person responsible for the sewer

 

system shall immediately, but not more than 24 hours after the

 

discharge begins, notify the department; local health departments

 

as defined in section 1105 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368,

 

MCL 333.1105; a daily newspaper of general circulation in the

 

county or counties in which a municipality notified pursuant to

 

subsection (4) is located; and a daily newspaper of general

 

circulation in the county in which the discharge occurred or is

 

occurring of all of the following:

 

     (a) Promptly after the discharge starts, by telephone or in

 

another manner required by the department, that the discharge is

 

occurring.

 

     (b) At the conclusion of the discharge, in writing or in

 

another manner required by the department, all of the following:

 

     (i) The volume and quality of the discharge as measured

 

pursuant to procedures and analytical methods approved by the

 

department.

 

     (ii) The reason for the discharge.

 

     (iii) The waters or land area, or both, receiving the discharge.

 

     (iv) The time the discharge began and ended as measured

 

pursuant to procedures approved by the department.

 

     (v) Verification of the person's compliance status with the

 

requirements of its national pollutant discharge elimination system

 

permit or groundwater discharge permit and applicable state and

 

federal statutes, rules, and orders.

 

     (2) Upon being notified of a discharge under subsection (1),

 

the department shall promptly post the notification on its website.

 

     (3) Each time a discharge to surface waters occurs under

 

subsection (1), the person responsible for the sewer system shall

 

test the affected waters for E. coli to assess the risk to the

 

public health as a result of the discharge and shall provide the

 

test results to the affected local county health departments and to

 

the department. The testing shall be done at locations specified by

 

each affected local county health department but shall not exceed

 

10 tests for each separate discharge event. The requirement for

 

this testing may be waived by the affected local county health

 

department if the affected local county health department

 

determines that such testing is not needed to assess the risk to

 

the public health as a result of the discharge event.

 

     (4) A person responsible for a sewer system that may discharge

 

untreated sewage or partially treated sewage into the waters of the

 

state shall annually contact each municipality whose jurisdiction

 

contains waters that may be affected by the discharge. If those

 

contacted municipalities wish to be notified in the same manner as

 

provided in subsection (1), the person responsible for the sewer

 

system shall provide that notification.

 

     (5) A person who is responsible for a discharge of untreated

 

sewage or partially treated sewage from a sewer system into the

 

waters of the state shall comply with the requirements of its

 

national pollutant discharge elimination system permit or

 

groundwater discharge permit and applicable state and federal

 

statutes, rules, and orders.

 

     (6) This section does not authorize the discharge of untreated

 

sewage or partially treated sewage into the waters of the state or

 

limit the state from bringing legal action as otherwise authorized

 

by this part.

 

     (7) The penalties and fines provided for in section 3115 apply

 

to a violation of this section.

 

     (8) For sewer systems that discharge to the groundwater via a

 

subsurface disposal system, that do not have a groundwater

 

discharge permit issued by the department, and the discharge of

 

untreated sewage or partially treated sewage is not to surface

 

waters, the person responsible for the sewer system shall notify

 

the local health department in accordance with subsection (1)(a)

 

and (b), but the requirements of subsections (2), (3), (4), and (5)

 

do not apply.

 

     (9) As used in this section:

 

     (a) "Partially treated sewage" means any sewage, sewage and

 

storm water, or sewage and wastewater, from domestic or industrial

 

sources that meets 1 or more of the following:

 

     (i) Is not treated to national secondary treatment standards

 

for wastewater or that is treated to a level less than that

 

required by the person's national pollutant discharge elimination

 

system permit.

 

     (ii) Is treated to a level less than that required by the

 

person's groundwater discharge permit.

 

     (iii) Is found on the ground surface.

 

     (b) "Sewer system" means a public or privately owned sewer

 

system designed and used to convey or treat sanitary sewage or

 

sanitary sewage and storm water. Sewer system does not include an

 

on-site wastewater treatment system serving 1 residential unit or

 

duplex.

 

     (c) "Surface water" means all of the following, but does not

 

include drainage ways and ponds used solely for wastewater

 

conveyance, treatment, or control:

 

     (i) The Great Lakes and their connecting waters.

 

     (ii) Inland lakes.

 

     (iii) Rivers.

 

     (iv) Streams.

 

     (v) Impoundments.

 

     (vi) Open drains.

 

     (vii) Other surface bodies of water.