|
2012 -- H 7966 | |
|
======= | |
|
LC02227 | |
|
======= | |
|
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
|
| |
|
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
|
| |
|
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2012 | |
|
| |
|
____________ | |
|
| |
|
A N A C T | |
|
RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introduced By: Representatives Baldelli-Hunt, Brien, and Phillips | |
|
Date Introduced: March 15, 2012 | |
|
Referred To: House Municipal Government | |
|
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
|
1-1 |
SECTION 1. Section 46-12-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 46-12 entitled "Water |
|
1-2 |
Pollution" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
|
1-3 |
46-12-2. Administration. -- (a) It shall be the responsibility of the director of the |
|
1-4 |
department of environmental management to administer this chapter. Within the department of |
|
1-5 |
environmental management, the director may employ personnel who shall come within the |
|
1-6 |
classified service in accordance with the laws of this state for the purposes of this chapter, and |
|
1-7 |
may delegate to a subordinate or subordinates any or all the powers and duties vested in the |
|
1-8 |
director hereunder. The general assembly shall annually appropriate such sums as it may deem |
|
1-9 |
necessary for the expenses of administering this chapter. |
|
1-10 |
(b) The department of environmental management is hereby designated as the state water |
|
1-11 |
pollution control agency for this state for all purposes of the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 |
|
1-12 |
U.S.C. section 1251 et seq., and is hereby authorized to take all action necessary or appropriate to |
|
1-13 |
secure to this state the benefits of that act. |
|
1-14 |
(c) The department of environmental management is hereby designated to operate the |
|
1-15 |
underground injection control program under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended, |
|
1-16 |
42 U.S.C. section 300f et seq., and is hereby authorized to take all action necessary or appropriate |
|
1-17 |
to secure to this state the benefits of that program. |
|
1-18 |
(d) The department of environmental management is hereby designated to administer the |
|
1-19 |
wellhead protection program as approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and in |
|
1-20 |
accordance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. section 300f et seq., |
|
2-1 |
and is hereby authorized to take all actions necessary or appropriate to secure to this state the |
|
2-2 |
benefits of that program. The department of environmental management shall cooperate and |
|
2-3 |
coordinate wellhead protection program activities with the department of health public drinking |
|
2-4 |
water supply program. |
|
2-5 |
(e) The department of environmental management is hereby designated to administer the |
|
2-6 |
underground storage tank program as approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency |
|
2-7 |
pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. section 6901 et |
|
2-8 |
seq., and is hereby authorized to take all necessary or appropriate actions to secure to this state |
|
2-9 |
the benefits of this program, including participation via cooperative agreement with the |
|
2-10 |
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the leaking underground storage tank trust fund. |
|
2-11 |
(f) The department of environmental management is hereby designated to establish, |
|
2-12 |
administer, and enforce standards for nutrients as necessary to protect, maintain and/or improve |
|
2-13 |
the ecological functions of the marine and aquatic resources of the state; and to prepare, adopt, |
|
2-14 |
and implement plans as necessary and appropriate to accomplish the purposes of managing |
|
2-15 |
nutrient loadings and preventing, abating, and/or eliminating the deleterious effects of nutrients, |
|
2-16 |
including, but not limited to, eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, anoxia, oxygen- |
|
2-17 |
stress-induced population shifts, and/or fish kills. To implement the purposes of this subsection, |
|
2-18 |
the department shall implement measures to achieve an overall goal of reducing nitrogen loadings |
|
2-19 |
from waste water treatment facilities by fifty percent (50%) by December 31, 2008, which date, |
|
2-20 |
in its implementation, may be adjusted to be consistent with compliance with permit |
|
2-21 |
modifications, through waste water treatment facility upgrades scheduled to be undertaken by |
|
2-22 |
December 31, 2006, and through proposed permit modifications, which shall be issued by the |
|
2-23 |
department on or before July 1, 2004. The department shall report on the implementation of these |
|
2-24 |
measures in the report required by section 46-12-3(25). |
|
2-25 |
(g) The city of Woonsocket shall not be required to implement measures to meet the |
|
2-26 |
standards adopted by the department of environmental management pursuant to subsection 46-12- |
|
2-27 |
2(f) until on or before December 31, 2015. |
|
2-28 |
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
|
| |
|
======= | |
|
LC02227 | |
|
======= | |
|
EXPLANATION | |
|
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
|
OF | |
|
A N A C T | |
|
RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION | |
|
*** | |
|
3-1 |
This act would provide that the city of Woonsocket not be required to meet nutrient waste |
|
3-2 |
water treatment standards as established by the department of environmental management until |
|
3-3 |
on or before December 31, 2015. |
|
3-4 |
This act would take effect upon passage. |
|
| |
|
======= | |
|
LC02227 | |
|
======= |