WSR 18-17-079
PERMANENT RULES
DEPARTMENT OF
NATURAL RESOURCES
[Filed August 13, 2018, 1:44 p.m., effective September 13, 2018]
Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.
Purpose: Addition of assistant division manager to the list of titles authorized to act as the State Environmental Policy Act responsible official.
Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 332-41-910.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: Chapter
43.21C RCW.
Other Authority: Chapter
34.05 RCW, WAC 197-11-902(2), 197-11-904(1), 197-11-910 and delegation order, 11/5/01, signature authority to adopt rules.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 18-10-007 on April 20, 2018.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: August 7, 2018.
Brule Burkhart
Deputy Supervisor
for Administration
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 07-08-021, filed 3/27/07, effective 4/27/07)
WAC 332-41-910Designation of responsible official.
(1) Who may serve as DNR's SEPA responsible official? Since the responsible official shall carry out duties and functions for the purpose of assuring DNR's compliance with SEPA and the SEPA rules, it is important that DNR clearly designates who will be the responsible official for a proposal.
(a) DNR's responsible official will be as follows:
(i) Division manager;
(ii) Designated region manager; ((or))
(iii) Designated assistant division manager; or
(iv) Designated assistant region manager.
(b) The responsible official for the harbor line commission shall be the division manager of the aquatic resources division.
(c) When the region manager or assistant region manager is involved with the proposal, or during emergencies, i.e., fire season, it may be necessary to assign the responsible official duties for a proposal to a region manager in another region. The division manager may also assume responsible official duties for the proposal.
(d) When potentially significant conflicting DNR interests exist involving DNR proposals that converge at the division manager or region manager level, or the proposal involves more than one region, a superior management-level official may act as the responsible official. See subsection (4) of this section for recommended qualifications.
(2)
What are the responsible official's duties? When DNR is the lead agency, the responsible official shall review the environmental checklist and make the threshold determination in compliance with this chapter, chapters
43.21C RCW and 197-11 WAC, and specifically, WAC 197-11-330.
(3) What other procedural requirements must be followed? The responsible official shall carry out further SEPA compliance under WAC 197-11-340, 197-11-350, or 197-11-360, as appropriate. This includes notice and circulation requirements for threshold determinations.
(4) What are the general qualifications of a DNR responsible official? The responsible official shall not be the applicant, project leader, or the decision maker for the proposal. The official shall have general technical expertise sufficient to assess the impacts of the proposal.
(5) What if a determination of significance is issued? When an environmental impact statement is required based on the threshold determination, scoping and EIS preparation under chapter 197-11 WAC shall occur under direction of the responsible official.