H-0547.1
HOUSE BILL 1077
State of Washington
65th Legislature
2017 Regular Session
By Representatives Fitzgibbon, Pollet, and McBride
Read first time 01/10/17. Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.
AN ACT Relating to establishing rules for motorized suction dredge mining in rivers and streams equal to other hydraulic projects by modifying a hydraulic project approval exemption; amending RCW 77.55.091; reenacting and amending RCW 77.55.011; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that state laws and rules relating to motorized suction dredge mining in rivers and streams allow direct and harmful impacts to water quality, fish habitat, and fish species. The legislature further finds that because Washington state neither regulates nor prohibits motorized suction dredge mining like other nearby states, that our state's streams and rivers are targeted by people from across the country who seek to conduct motorized suction dredge mining in an unregulated jurisdiction. The legislature further finds that the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that motorized suction dredge mining in rivers and streams results in the discharge of materials, which requires a permit under the federal clean water act, and section 7 consultation under the federal endangered species act in order to avoid the unlawful take of endangered species act-listed species. It is the intent of the legislature to enact a regulatory system to protect fish habitat in streams and rivers and to protect Washington state from liability for failing to regulate motorized suction dredge mining.
Sec. 2.  RCW 77.55.091 and 2005 c 146 s 402 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Nonmotorized small scale prospecting and mining shall not require a permit under this chapter if the prospecting is conducted in accordance with rules established by the department.
(2) By December 31, ((1998)) 2018, the department shall adopt rules applicable to nonmotorized small scale prospecting and mining activities subject to this section. The department shall develop the rules in cooperation with the recreational mining community and other interested parties.
(3) Within two months of adoption of the rules, the department shall distribute an updated gold and fish pamphlet that describes methods of mineral prospecting that are consistent with the department's rule. The pamphlet shall be written to clearly indicate the prospecting methods that require a permit under this chapter and the prospecting methods that require compliance with the pamphlet. To the extent possible, the department shall use the provisions of the gold and fish pamphlet to minimize the number of specific provisions of a written permit issued under this chapter.
(4) Nonmotorized small scale prospecting and mining is not subject to any fee under this chapter.
Sec. 3.  RCW 77.55.011 and 2012 1st sp.s. c 1 s 101 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Bed" means the land below the ordinary high water lines of state waters. This definition does not include irrigation ditches, canals, storm water runoff devices, or other artificial watercourses except where they exist in a natural watercourse that has been altered artificially.
(2) "Board" means the pollution control hearings board created in chapter 43.21B RCW.
(3) "Commission" means the state fish and wildlife commission.
(4) "Date of receipt" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 43.21B.001.
(5) "Department" means the department of fish and wildlife.
(6) "Director" means the director of the department of fish and wildlife.
(7) "Emergency" means an immediate threat to life, the public, property, or of environmental degradation.
(8) "Emergency permit" means a verbal hydraulic project approval or the written follow-up to the verbal approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021(12).
(9) "Expedited permit" means a hydraulic project approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021 (14) and (16).
(10) "Forest practices hydraulic project" means a hydraulic project that requires a forest practices application or notification under chapter 76.09 RCW.
(11) "Hydraulic project" means the construction or performance of work that will use, divert, obstruct, or change the natural flow or bed of any of the salt or freshwaters of the state.
(12) "Imminent danger" means a threat by weather, water flow, or other natural conditions that is likely to occur within sixty days of a request for a permit application.
(13) "Marina" means a public or private facility providing boat moorage space, fuel, or commercial services. Commercial services include but are not limited to overnight or live-aboard boating accommodations.
(14) "Marine terminal" means a public or private commercial wharf located in the navigable water of the state and used, or intended to be used, as a port or facility for the storing, handling, transferring, or transporting of goods to and from vessels.
(15) "Multiple site permit" means a hydraulic project approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021 for hydraulic projects occurring at more than one specific location and which includes site-specific requirements.
(16) "Ordinary high water line" means the mark on the shores of all water that will be found by examining the bed and banks and ascertaining where the presence and action of waters are so common and usual, and so long continued in ordinary years as to mark upon the soil or vegetation a character distinct from the abutting upland. Provided, that in any area where the ordinary high water line cannot be found, the ordinary high water line adjoining saltwater is the line of mean higher high water and the ordinary high water line adjoining freshwater is the elevation of the mean annual flood.
(17) "Pamphlet hydraulic project" means a hydraulic project for the removal or control of aquatic noxious weeds conducted under the aquatic plants and fish pamphlet authorized by RCW 77.55.081, or for nonmotorized mineral prospecting and mining conducted under the gold and fish pamphlet authorized by RCW 77.55.091.
(18) "Permit" means a hydraulic project approval permit issued under this chapter.
(19) "Permit modification" means a hydraulic project approval issued to a person under RCW 77.55.021 that extends, renews, or changes the conditions of a previously issued hydraulic project approval.
(20) "Sandbars" includes, but is not limited to, sand, gravel, rock, silt, and sediments.
(21) "Small scale prospecting and mining" means the use of only the following methods: Pans; nonmotorized sluice boxes; concentrators; and minirocker boxes for the discovery and recovery of minerals.
(22) "Spartina," "purple loosestrife," and "aquatic noxious weeds" have the same meanings as defined in RCW 17.26.020.
(23) "Stream bank stabilization" means those projects that prevent or limit erosion, slippage, and mass wasting. These projects include, but are not limited to, bank resloping, log and debris relocation or removal, planting of woody vegetation, bank protection using rock or woody material or placement of jetties or groins, gravel removal, or erosion control.
(24) "Tide gate" means a one-way check valve that prevents the backflow of tidal water.
(25) "Waters of the state" and "state waters" means all salt and freshwaters waterward of the ordinary high water line and within the territorial boundary of the state.
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