Legislature(2007 - 2008)
2007-02-21 Senate Journal
Full Journal pdf2007-02-21 Senate Journal Page 0310 SB 91 SENATE BILL NO. 91 BY THE SENATE RULES COMMITTEE BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR, entitled: "An Act relating to the authority of the Department of Environmental Conservation to require certain monitoring, sampling, and reporting and to require permits for certain discharges of pollutants; relating to criminal penalties for violations of the permit program; and providing for an effective date." was read the first time and referred to the Resources and Judiciary Committees. 2007-02-21 Senate Journal Page 0311 The following fiscal information was published today: Fiscal Note No. 1, zero, Department of Environmental Conservation Governor's transmittal letter dated February 20: Dear President Green: Under the authority of art. III, sec. 18, of the Alaska Constitution, I am transmitting a bill relating to the authority of the Department of Environmental Conservation (department) to require certain monitoring, sampling, and reporting and to require permits for certain discharges of pollutants, and to criminal penalties for violations of the permit program. Under the federal Clean Water Act, discharges of pollutants to surface waters require a permit either from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or from a state that has received approval from the EPA to administer the permitting program. Alaska has applied to the EPA for approval of a state permitting program, and the EPA is currently reviewing Alaska's application. Under federal law, the EPA cannot approve a state program unless it is as stringent as the EPA's program. This bill would revise certain provisions of law governing the department's permitting and enforcement authority, in order to align the state's permit requirements with the EPA's. The changes are all designed to help facilitate final approval by the EPA of Alaska's program. Three of the proposed changes would involve current exclusions from the requirement of getting a discharge permit. The first exclusion is for sewage. Current state law provides that the discharge of sewage into a "sewerage system" does not need a permit. Federal law exempts only discharges of sewage into "publicly owned treatment works." The difference is that the federal exemption is for sewage going to a place where it will receive treatment; while the state exemption is broader and needs to be amended in order to reflect a treatment requirement. The solution offered by this bill would be simply to change the state exemption so that it matches the EPA's: only sewage discharged to a publicly owned treatment works would be exempt from the permit requirement. 2007-02-21 Senate Journal Page 0312 The second exclusion would be for discharges that are incidental to certain drilling and trenching activities. Current state law exempts those discharges from the permit requirement if they don't result in a discharge "directly into any surface water." To align state law with the federal permit program, that phrase would be changed by deleting the word "directly" and changing "surface water" to "waters of the United States," a term defined identically in state and federal regulations. The third and final exclusion is for the discharge of munitions on active ranges. The federal definition of "pollutant" at 40 C.F.R. 122.2 includes munitions, so a permit is required for their discharge to waters of the United States. Yet state law exempts the discharge of munitions from the permit requirement. This bill would limit the state's munitions exemption to discharges that do not enter waters of the United States, again to bring state law into line with federal law. The bill includes three other provisions. One would give the department the authority to require site sampling and reporting of results analogous to what the EPA exercises under sec. 308 of the Clean Water Act. Another clarifies that the department's permitting authority extends to all "pollutants" listed under federal law. The third provision also follows federal law (33 U.S.C. 1319(c)) by allowing the department to pursue criminal enforcement for negligent violations of any aspect of the state permit program. This bill is an essential component of the state's effort to receive primacy from the EPA in the permitting of discharges in our state. I support continuing forward with efforts to receive primacy, and I urge your prompt and favorable action on this measure. Sincerely, /s/ Sarah Palin Governor