S-3688.1 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 6394
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 56th Legislature 2000 Regular Session
By Senators Hargrove, Patterson, Swecker, Morton, Snyder and Spanel
Read first time 01/14/2000. Referred to Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources.
AN ACT Relating to locating off-site mitigation of wetlands impacts; adding new sections to chapter 90.74 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 90.74 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The standards of this section apply to any state agency approval of a project that impacts wetlands. Nothing in this section creates any new authority for regulating wetlands beyond what is specifically provided for in this section. Nothing in this section creates any requirements for local government regulation of projects that impact wetlands.
(2) A state agency shall not approve off-site compensatory mitigation unless it is to be conducted in the same watershed as the project causing wetland impacts.
(3) In addition to the limitation of subsection (2) of this section, a state agency shall not approve off-site compensatory mitigation of the wetland impacts of a project located within an incorporated area or within a designated urban growth area, unless the mitigation is to be conducted within five miles of the project site.
(4) For purposes of this section:
(a) "Approval" of a project that impacts wetlands includes the issuance by any state agency of any regulatory permit, water quality certification, or other regulatory action approving or conditioning the project.
(b) "Compensatory mitigation" means the restoration, creation, or enhancement of wetlands for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable adverse impacts that remain after all appropriate and practicable avoidance and minimization has been achieved.
(c) "Off-site compensatory mitigation" and "off-site mitigation" means compensatory mitigation undertaken at a location other than the project site.
(d) "Project site" means all contiguous real property used or proposed to be used for the project and compensatory mitigation of wetland or other impacts.
(e) "Watershed" means an area identified as a water resource inventory area under WAC 173-500-040 as it exists on the effective date of this section. This subsection (3) applies only within counties having a population of greater than five hundred thousand on the effective date of this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 90.74 RCW to read as follows:
The departments of ecology and fish and wildlife shall implement this chapter consistent with section 1 of this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Section 1 of this act applies to any state agency approval of a project that impacts wetlands where the approval is made on or after January 1, 2000.
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