AN ACT Relating to mineral resource land designation; adding a new section to chapter 36.70A RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes that the availability of minerals through surface mining is essential to the economic well-being of the state and nation. The citizens of the state are rapidly running out of approved or designated sites to extract these minerals. Therefore, the available sources of these minerals are nearly exhausted.

The state has enacted several laws in recent years directing local governments to make land use decisions for appropriate uses of land through designation in advance of or during the comprehensive planning process and then to limit the specific approval process to mitigating specific impacts of the use or uses allowed by the designation. The current planning and regulatory environment makes economically viable permits unobtainable for the vast majority of the sites where the minerals are located and needed.

The cost of transportation of minerals for any significant distance can have an exponential effect on the costs to the taxpayers of the state. Surface mining must take place in diverse areas where the geologic, topographic, climatic, biologic, and social conditions are significantly different, and reclamation specifications must vary accordingly. But surface mining is a finite use of the land and another beneficial use must follow through reclamation.

Therefore, the legislature finds that designation, production, and conservation of adequate sources of minerals is in the best interests of the citizens of the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 36.70A RCW to read as follows:

(1)(a) Where the county has classified mineral lands pursuant to RCW 36.70A.050 and mineral resource lands of long-term commercial significance exist, a county shall designate sufficient mineral resource lands in the comprehensive plans to meet the projected twenty-year, county-wide need. Once designated, mineral resource uses, including operations as defined in RCW 78.44.031, shall be established as an allowed use in local development regulations.

(b) The county shall designate mineral resource deposits, both active and inactive, in economically viable proximity to locations where the deposits are likely to be used.

(2) Nothing in this section precludes any unit of government from accepting the lowest responsible bid for purchase of mineral materials, regardless of source.

(3) Through its comprehensive plan and development regulations, as defined in RCW 36.70A.030, a county, city, or town shall discourage the siting of new applications of incompatible uses adjacent to mineral resource industries, deposits, and holdings.

(4) Any additions or amendments to comprehensive plans or development regulations required by this section may be adopted during the normal course of adopting or amending the comprehensive plan or development regulations.

Reasonable notice of additions or amendments to comprehensive plans or development regulations shall be given to property owners and other affected and interested individuals. The county shall use either an existing reasonable notice provision already employed by the county or a new reasonable notice provision, including any of the following:

(a) Notifying owners of real property, as shown by the records of the county assessor, located within three hundred feet of the boundaries of the proposed designation;

(b) Publishing notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, city, or general area where the mineral resource deposits are located;

(d) Placing notices in appropriate regional, neighborhood, or trade journals.

(5) For the purposes of this section:

(a) "Long-term commercial significance" includes the mineral composition of the land for long-term economically viable commercial production, in consideration with the mineral resource land's proximity to population areas, product markets, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land.

(b) "Allowed use" means the use or uses specified by local development regulations as appropriate within those areas designated through the advance or comprehensive planning process. Once designated, a proposed allowed use shall be reviewed for project specific impacts and may be conditioned to mitigate significant adverse impacts within the context of site plan approval, but such review shall not revisit the question of land use.