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.
