2016 -- S 2094 SUBSTITUTE A

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LC003149/SUB A

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2016

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- WASTEWATER TREATMENT

PLANTS

     Introduced By: Senators Walaska, McCaffrey, and Lynch Prata

     Date Introduced: January 21, 2016

     Referred To: Senate Environment & Agriculture

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 42-17.4-12 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-17.4 entitled

"Wastewater Treatment Plants" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     42-17.4-12. Renewal of operation permit -- Public notice and hearing requirement. --

(a) Upon the department of environmental management's completion of a draft, a major Rhode

Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) permit (as those terms are defined in

the RIPDES Regulations effective March 1, 1993), the department of environmental management

shall provide public notice of the opportunity to submit comments and request a hearing on the

draft permit and shall hold a hearing on the draft permit in accordance with the requirements of

the RIPDES regulations. A notice of the hearing, which shall be mandatory, shall be published in

a newspaper of general circulation within the city or town where said facility is located, at least

thirty (30) days prior to the date of the hearing, at the hearing all persons interested shall be heard

upon the matter of the facility's draft permit. Written notice, which may be a copy of the

newspaper advertisement, shall be mailed to the wastewater treatment facility whose permit is

being heard, and to the board of certification of operators of wastewater treatment facilities and,

where applicable, to the parties specified in subsection (b) of this section at least twenty-one (21)

days prior to the date of the hearing. The newspaper notice shall be published as a display

advertisement using a type size at least as large as the standard type size used by the newspaper in

its news articles, and said The notice shall:

      (1) Specify the date, time and place of the hearing;

      (2) Specify the date which the facility filed its license renewal application; and

      (3) Indicate that language interpreters and interpreters for the hearing-impaired will be

made available upon notice to the facility forty-eight (48) hours prior to the hearing date.

      (b) A copy of the notice of public hearing as published shall be sent by first class mail or

e-mail to the chief administrative officer of each city or town, and to each member of the town or

city council and state representatives and senators of each city and town who represent an area

that is located within two thousand (2000) feet of the facility's perimeter.

      (c) The public hearing shall have a qualified stenographer present or shall be recorded.

The department of environmental management shall provide a copy of the recording, or The the

stenographer shall provide a copy of the transcript to the department of environmental

management, division of water resources and to the wastewater treatment facility. Said transcripts

or recordings shall be received no later than thirty (30) days after the hearing. The transcript or

recording of the public hearing shall be available for inspection to the general public at the

facility.

      (d) No defect in the form of any notice under this section shall render any granting of

licensure invalid unless the defect is found to be intentional or misleading.

      (e) The costs of any notice, interpreters, stenographers or transcripts as required under

this section shall be paid directly by the wastewater treatment facility.

      (f) The above requirements are to be construed as minimum requirements.

      (g) The above hearing requirements shall take effect as of January 1, 1996.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- WASTEWATER TREATMENT

PLANTS

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     This act would require a notice and opportunity for the public to be heard with regard to

the permitting of wastewater treatment facilities.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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