BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to environmental mitigation strategy of the department of transportation; adding new sections to chapter 47.12 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. Intent. The legislature recognizes that the department of transportation spends substantial funds on mitigating unavoidable environmental impacts associated with meeting its mission to deliver a state transportation system. It is the intent of the legislature that the department optimize the use of existing environmental mitigation dollars to protect the state's natural resources in a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive manner.

As directed by chapter 125, Laws of 1995, the department has developed a wetlands strategic plan that provides guidance for the department's long-range management of wetlands associated with impacts caused by transportation projects. The plan also identifies several barriers to improved wetland and watershed management that still remain. These include a lack of guidance for making trade-off decisions for off-site/out-of-kind mitigation proposals, lack of adequate funding, lack of predictability regarding whether a mitigation bank could be used once it is created, and lack of a model by which preservation of threatened wetlands can be used as a mitigation option.

The legislature recognizes that these activities can be enhanced by improved coordination between the department and other agencies and partners. This coordination should include development of additional mitigation concepts and tools such as watershed-based mitigation and wetland banking. Watershed-based mitigation and wetland banking opportunities need to consider all aquatic resource impacts, including wetlands, habitat, storm water quality and quantity, and flooding.

The legislature also recognizes that wetland banking and watershed-based mitigation strategies offer potential benefits, including cost-effectiveness, streamlining of the project development process, improved benefits to the environment over more traditional types of wetland mitigation, and formation of multijurisdictional partnerships. State agencies have made commitments and progress toward providing services and accomplishing their mission based on a watershed approach. It is the intent of the legislature that the department continue to develop mitigation strategies that can be applied within the context of a watershed. It is also the legislature's intent that other state agencies contribute, consistent with their respective agency missions, to the development of these strategies. Contributions include, but are not limited to collection, analysis, and sharing of data, as well as policy and guidance development.

The legislature also supports efforts to improve the environmental permitting process by integrating watershed planning with the environmental impact evaluation, mitigation, and document review for projects in the watershed. A result of this improved integration would be reduced duplication of effort among separate environmental permit and process activities within a single watershed, as well as increased coordination and information sharing among project proponents within watersheds.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in sections 1 through 6 of this act, "watershed" means an area identified as a state of Washington water resource inventory area under WAC 173-500-040.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Authority. The department has demonstrated ongoing leadership in the development and implementation of scientific and engineering methodologies needed for the creation of effective wetland mitigation sites, storm water management practices, and fish passage facilities. Therefore, the department may work with the departments of ecology, fish and wildlife, community, trade, and economic development, and other appropriate agencies, to integrate the wetlands strategic plan into effective environmental mitigation and watershed management strategies that meet the intent of section 1 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Organization and tasks. The department shall establish a technical committee that includes cities, counties, environmental groups, business groups, tribes, the Puget Sound action team, and the state departments of ecology, fish and wildlife, and community, trade, and economic development, and appropriate federal agencies. The committee, which may add representatives of other agencies, organizations, or interest groups to serve as members or in an advisory capacity, shall assist the department in meeting the objectives of section 1 of this act by taking the following actions:

(1) Work on integrating the department's mitigation strategy into watershed plan implementation by collecting agency data to provide analysis of resource protection needs; developing a decision-making model for evaluating relative benefits of various mitigation options, including off-site and out-of-kind trade-offs; and developing documented guidance for permittees and permit reviewers. Where barriers to integrating the department's environmental mitigation strategy into watershed implementation exist, the committee shall develop recommendations leading to their removal. The technical committee shall assist permit agencies in developing and maintaining data bases of implementation examples and special permit language;

(2) Develop agreed-upon guidance that will enable the preservation of wetlands that are under imminent threat from development to be used as an acceptable mitigation option;

(3) Develop strategies that will facilitate the implementation of mitigation banking as a viable mitigation strategy;

(4) Continue involvement in developing wetland functions assessment protcols;

(5) In order to facilitate improved use of environmental mitigation banks, develop a mechanism for valuing and transferring credits of environmental mitigation sites between the department, other public entities, and private organizations;

(6) Develop incentives for interagency participation in joint mitigation projects within a watershed;

(7) Explore options for funding environmental mitigation strategies, including the watershed approach to mitigation.

The technical committee shall include in its analysis the various mitigation requirements of the federal resource agencies, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and determine how best to coordinate and streamline these mitigation requirements to achieve the greatest watershed benefits and to facilitate cost-effective watershed-based mitigation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Implementation. With guidance from the technical committee established in section 4 of this act, the departments of transportation, ecology, fish and wildlife, community, trade, and economic development, and other appropriate agencies, shall work cooperatively to implement the strategies and recommendations of the department's wetlands strategic plan.

The department shall initiate interagency coordination and develop any interagency agreements necessary to execute the tasks specified in section 4 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Feedback. The department shall prepare an annual report to the legislative transportation committee and the legislative natural resources committees on the status of program elements and steps taken to meet the recommendations of the department's wetlands strategic plan.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 6 of this act are each added to chapter 47.12 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Section captions used in this act are not part of the law.