Legislature(1993 - 1994)
02/02/1994 03:40 PM Senate RES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE RESOURCES COMMITTEE
February 2, 1994
3:40 P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Mike Miller, Chairman
Senator Loren Leman, Vice Chairman
Senator Steve Frank
Senator Al Adams
Senator Dave Donley
Senator Fred Zharoff
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Drue Pearce
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Wetlands Briefing
PREVIOUS ACTION
N/A
WITNESS REGISTER
Al Ewing, Director of Operations
Environmental Protection Agency
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on wetlands issues.
Paul Rusanowski, Director
Division of Governmental Coordination
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 110030
Juneau, Ak. 99811-0030
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on wetlands issues.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 94-4, SIDE A
Number 001
CHAIRMAN MILLER called the Resources Committee meeting to order at
3:40 p.m. and announced they would have a briefing on the wetlands
issue. He said the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection
Agency(EPA) held a series of meetings around the state and have
developed a set of 11 issue papers that address the federal
approach to wetland issues.
AL EWING, Director of Operations, EPA, testified via teleconference
that he would be representing the Corps of Engineers, also. He
said the Alaska Wetland Initiative Issue Papers have been available
for comment since December 17.
Topics covered by the issue papers are: no overall net loss of
wetlands goal, Alaska legal issues, Alaska physical environment,
state, local, and native roles, individual permit process,
alternative permit processing procedures, litigation sequence,
compensatory litigation, advanced planning of watershed management,
wetland inventory classification and categorization, and finally,
outreach and education.
SENATOR MILLER asked how these 11 issues fit within the present
policy of wetland permitting. MR. EWING said the feeling has been
in the past that they have had a reasonable approach.
SENATOR MILLER asked if there were any legislative initiatives at
the federal level that would implement some of these changes. MR.
EWING said there was nothing that would require congressional
action.
SENATOR LEMAN asked if there would be an opportunity for further
public comment on the action plan. MR. EWING said after February
4 there were no further plans for public comment.
Number 228
SENATOR MILLER asked if the EPA was requesting more federal funding
to implement the Alaskan action plan and would they ask the state
to have matching funding or anything like that.
MR. EWING answered they were expecting to use available resources,
including rent monies, that are available to the state and that may
be available to other government entities, as well.
SENATOR MILLER asked if he anticipated the state and native
population having a larger role in developing and implementing this
action plan. MR. EWING said that was already part of the
President's plan.
Number 287
SENATOR ZHAROFF asked him to clarify the 1% exemption. MR. EWING
said the August 24 plan indicates that the 1% exemption proposal
will be withdrawn.
SENATOR ZHAROFF asked if the wetlands laws are applicable to all
the 50 states and territories. MR. EWING said yes, but he did not
know about territories.
SENATOR MILLER asked if Alaska should want to take over some of the
404 permitting process. MR. EWING answered yes, that would
probably give the state more of a leadership role.
Number 360
SENATOR LEMAN asked if he knew of anything they were doing to
facilitate infrastructure development especially in rural Alaska.
MR. EWING said one action they have been pursuing is the
development and issuance of an accelerated abbreviated permit for
infrastructure development there.
SENATOR LEMAN asked if there was any movement to withdraw the 301
H waivers or any of the native village waivers from the
requirements for secondary treatment? MR. EWING answered no.
SENATOR MILLER thanked Mr. Ewing for his participation and
introduced Paul Rusanowski.
Number 403
PAUL RUSANOWSKI, Division of Governmental Coordination,
complimented the EPA and Corps of Engineers for addressing the
issues that are critical to Alaska. President Clinton said he was
interested in establishing a fair, flexible, and effective action
plan. There are some unique aspects to Alaska that need to be
emphasized, the size of our wetlands, for instance.
Looking at ownership status, he said, the federal government owns
115 million acres of wetlands in the state - 65% of the total
wetlands. The State of Alaska owns 40 million acres and the native
corporations own another 20 million acres. That leaves less than
200,000 acres in private non-native ownership. The focus will be
on federal, state, and native corporation owners. 36% of the lands
have already been placed in protective status.
He explained that arctic and subarctic climate conditions pose
unique constraints on development and land forms. Permafrost and
related physical features exists through most of the state.
The population is concentrated in a small number of communities.
Most communities are not connected by roads and are near water
courses.
MR. RUSANOWSKI said they are encouraged that the federal government
recognizes there must be flexibility with the no net loss policy.
They hope the state can be involved in developing and implementing
policies specifying compensatory mitigation when it's required. As
presently proposed the effort is conducted entirely by the federal
government.
Recognition of the need for a regionalized wetland delineation
manual is a positive step. They support the need for inventory and
classification. More emphasis should be placed on this aspect so
the necessary tools are available to all parties as part of the
Alaska action plan, Mr. Rusanowski said.
There must be an effective partnership between the federal
government and Alaskan permitting authorities, as well as the
native community. The success of this initiative and current
recommendations is critically dependent on full participation by
both state and native interests.
TAPE 94-4, SIDE B
Number 580
He used the example of the partnering agreement that is now in
place between the Corps of Engineers and the Division of
Governmental Coordination which facilitates the development of
general permits in the state to show the type of regulatory
flexibility that could go a long way in solving problems that
Alaskans face.
The Corps and EPA's commitments to the Public Health Service to
develop an alternative permitting process that will help expedite
sewer and water projects in bush Alaska is another example of a
positive step to enhancing the ability to provide infrastructure
development in rural Alaska.
The commitment to propose additional general permits statewide and
circle general permits to communities will greatly improve the
regulatory process. However, the state should be a partner in
developing any regulatory scheme for Alaskan communities. Programs
such as advanced identification of wetlands, circle general
permits, watershed planning must incorporate regional and local
values and accommodate community needs to be successful.
Number 202
SENATOR LEMAN asked him how confident he was that the implementers
of the plan for Alaska will incorporate a substantial number of his
suggestions. MR. RUSANOWSKI answered that the state was surprised
at the responsiveness of the EPA and Corps in this process. The
problem is not issuing the permits. Not a lot of permits are
denied. It's the process of getting to the issuance which now could
take a number of years.
SENATOR MILLER asked if they were trying to streamline the process
for water and sewer in areas other than rural. MR. RUSANOWSKI
answered that they were looking at that in terms of general
permits. He said there is a lot of pressure on making the right
decision in urban areas because there are many conflicting uses of
wetlands there which they hope will change. He said they are
hoping to shorten the permitting process and want to go further
with this idea in the action plan.
Number 496
SENATOR MILLER thanked him for his testimony and adjourned the
meeting at 4:40 p.m.
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