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.