BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to regulation of surface mining reclamation and operations; and amending RCW 78.44.040 and 36.70A.060.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 78.44.040 and 1993 c 518 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department of natural resources is charged with the administration of reclamation and operations not regulated by local governments under this chapter. In order to implement and enforce this chapter, the department, under the administrative procedure act (chapter 34.05 RCW), may from time to time adopt those rules necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

(2)(a) Counties, cities, and towns may regulate surface mining operations only by ordinance and only in accordance with the requirements and limitations of this subsection.

(b) Local surface mining operating standards shall:

(i) Be limited to those standards that address mitigation of the following impacts of operations:

(A) Traffic;

(B) Light emission;

(D) Noise emission; and

(E) Other significant or substantial mining impacts that are not covered by a subject area of regulation embodied in any other state or federal law;

(ii) Be performance-based, objective standards that:

(A) Are directly and proportionately related to limiting surface mining impacts;

(B) Are reasonable and generally capable of being achieved;

(D) May be met by any lawful means selected by the applicant or operator that, in the judgment of the county, city, or town, achieve compliance with the standard;

(iii) Limit application and monitoring fees to the amount necessary to pay the costs of administering, processing, monitoring, and enforcing the regulation of surface mining in accordance with this section;

(iv) Except as otherwise provided in this section, implement the ordinance through an operating plan review and approval process. Such approval process shall:

(A) Require submittal of sufficient, complete, and accurate information, as specified by the local ordinance, to allow the decision maker to review the plan for compliance with local standards;

(B) At the option of the county, city, or town, provide for administrative approval subject to appeal or for initial consideration through a public hearing process; and

(C) Require that project-specific conditions or restrictions be based upon written findings of facts demonstrating their need to achieve compliance with local standards;

(v) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, provide that approvals issued will be valid for fifty years.

(3) Operating regulations and amendments thereto adopted pursuant to this section may be applied to lawfully preexisting mining operations only if the local ordinance:

(a) Limits application of subsection (2)(b)(i)(A) of this section relating to traffic to the designation of approved haul routes;

(b) Exempts such preexisting operations from any operating plan review and approval process;

(c) Provides reasonable time periods for compliance with new or amended local operating standards that in no event may be less than one year; and

(d) Includes a variance procedure to allow continuation of existing operations for a nonconforming surface mining operation where strict adherence to a local operating standard would be economically or operationally impractical due to conditions relating to site configuration, topography, or the nature of historic operations.

(4) Nothing in this section precludes a county, city, or town from exercising the express authority delegated to it by a state agency under state law, or from complying with state law when required as a regulated entity.

Sec. 2. RCW 36.70A.060 and 1991 sp.s. c 32 s 21 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Each county that is required or chooses to plan under RCW 36.70A.040, and each city within such county, shall adopt development regulations on or before September 1, 1991, to assure the conservation of agricultural, forest, and mineral resource lands designated under RCW 36.70A.170. Regulations adopted under this subsection may not prohibit uses legally existing on any parcel prior to their adoption and shall remain in effect until the county or city adopts development regulations pursuant to RCW 36.70A.120. Such regulations shall assure that the use of lands adjacent to agricultural, forest, or mineral resource lands shall not interfere with the continued use, in the accustomed manner and in accordance with best management practices, of these designated lands for the production of food, agricultural products, or timber, or for the extraction of minerals. Counties and cities shall require that all plats, short plats, development permits, and building permits issued for development activities on, or within three hundred feet of, lands designated as agricultural lands, forest lands, or mineral resource lands, contain a notice that the subject property is within or near designated agricultural lands, forest lands, or mineral resource lands on which a variety of commercial activities may occur that are not compatible with residential development for certain periods of limited duration.

(2) Each county and city shall adopt development regulations that protect critical areas that are required to be designated under RCW 36.70A.170. For counties and cities that are required or choose to plan under RCW 36.70A.040, such development regulations shall be adopted on or before September 1, 1991. For the remainder of the counties and cities, such development regulations shall be adopted on or before March 1, 1992.

(3) Such counties and cities shall review these designations and development regulations when adopting their comprehensive plans under RCW 36.70A.040 and implementing development regulations under RCW 36.70A.120 and may alter such designations and development regulations to insure consistency.

(4) The development regulations adopted by such counties and cities regarding surface mining operations under RCW 78.44.040 shall not be inconsistent with rules adopted by the department of natural resources.

(5) Forest land and agricultural land located within urban growth areas shall not be designated by a county or city as forest land or agricultural land of long-term commercial significance under RCW 36.70A.170 unless the city or county has enacted a program authorizing transfer or purchase of development rights.