BILL REQ. #:  H-4172.1 

READ FIRST TIME 01/17/06.   

     AN ACT Relating to expedited processing of energy facilities and alternative energy resources under the energy facility site evaluation council; and amending RCW 80.50.020, 80.50.075, and 80.50.090.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 80.50.020 and 2001 c 214 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Applicant" means any person who makes application for a site certification pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
     (2) "Application" means any request for approval of a particular site or sites filed in accordance with the procedures established pursuant to this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires.
     (3) "Person" means an individual, partnership, joint venture, private or public corporation, association, firm, public service company, political subdivision, municipal corporation, government agency, public utility district, or any other entity, public or private, however organized.
     (4) "Site" means any proposed or approved location of an energy facility.
     (5) "Certification" means a binding agreement between an applicant and the state which shall embody compliance to the siting guidelines, in effect as of the date of certification, which have been adopted pursuant to RCW 80.50.040 as now or hereafter amended as conditions to be met prior to or concurrent with the construction or operation of any energy facility.
     (6) "Associated facilities" means storage, transmission, handling, or other related and supporting facilities connecting an energy plant with the existing energy supply, processing, or distribution system, including, but not limited to, communications, controls, mobilizing or maintenance equipment, instrumentation, and other types of ancillary transmission equipment, off-line storage or venting required for efficient operation or safety of the transmission system and overhead, and surface or subsurface lines of physical access for the inspection, maintenance, and safe operations of the transmission facility and new transmission lines constructed to operate at nominal voltages in excess of 200,000 volts to connect a thermal power plant to the northwest power grid: PROVIDED, That common carrier railroads or motor vehicles shall not be included.
     (7) "Transmission facility" means any of the following together with their associated facilities:
     (a) Crude or refined petroleum or liquid petroleum product transmission pipeline of the following dimensions: A pipeline larger than six inches minimum inside diameter between valves for the transmission of these products with a total length of at least fifteen miles;
     (b) Natural gas, synthetic fuel gas, or liquified petroleum gas transmission pipeline of the following dimensions: A pipeline larger than fourteen inches minimum inside diameter between valves, for the transmission of these products, with a total length of at least fifteen miles for the purpose of delivering gas to a distribution facility, except an interstate natural gas pipeline regulated by the United States federal power commission.
     (8) "Independent consultants" means those persons who have no financial interest in the applicant's proposals and who are retained by the council to evaluate the applicant's proposals, supporting studies, or to conduct additional studies.
     (9) "Thermal power plant" means, for the purpose of certification, any electrical generating facility using any fuel, including nuclear materials, for distribution of electricity by electric utilities.
     (10) "Energy facility" means an energy plant or transmission facilities: PROVIDED, That the following are excluded from the provisions of this chapter:
     (a) Facilities for the extraction, conversion, transmission or storage of water, other than water specifically consumed or discharged by energy production or conversion for energy purposes; and
     (b) Facilities operated by and for the armed services for military purposes or by other federal authority for the national defense.
     (11) "Council" means the energy facility site evaluation council created by RCW 80.50.030.
     (12) "Counsel for the environment" means an assistant attorney general or a special assistant attorney general who shall represent the public in accordance with RCW 80.50.080.
     (13) "Construction" means on-site improvements, excluding exploratory work, which cost in excess of two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
     (14) "Energy plant" means the following facilities together with their associated facilities:
     (a) Any stationary thermal power plant with generating capacity of three hundred fifty thousand kilowatts or more, measured using maximum continuous electric generating capacity, less minimum auxiliary load, at average ambient temperature and pressure, and floating thermal power plants of one hundred thousand kilowatts or more, including associated facilities. For the purposes of this subsection, "floating thermal power plants" means a thermal power plant that is suspended on the surface of water by means of a barge, vessel, or other floating platform;
     (b) Facilities which will have the capacity to receive liquified natural gas in the equivalent of more than one hundred million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day, which has been transported over marine waters;
     (c) Facilities which will have the capacity to receive more than an average of fifty thousand barrels per day of crude or refined petroleum or liquified petroleum gas which has been or will be transported over marine waters, except that the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to storage facilities unless occasioned by such new facility construction;
     (d) Any underground reservoir for receipt and storage of natural gas as defined in RCW 80.40.010 capable of delivering an average of more than one hundred million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day; and
     (e) Facilities capable of processing more than twenty-five thousand barrels per day of petroleum into refined products.
     (15) "Land use plan" means a comprehensive plan or land use element thereof adopted by a unit of local government pursuant to chapter((s)) 35.63, 35A.63, ((or)) 36.70, or 36.70A RCW.
     (16) "Zoning ordinance" means an ordinance of a unit of local government regulating the use of land and adopted pursuant to chapter((s)) 35.63, 35A.63, ((or)) 36.70, or 36.70A RCW or Article XI of the state Constitution.
     (17) "Alternative energy resource" means: (a) Wind; (b) solar energy; (c) geothermal energy; (d) landfill gas; (e) wave or tidal action; or (f) biomass energy based on solid organic fuels from wood, forest, or field residues, or dedicated energy crops that do not include wood pieces that have been treated with chemical preservatives such as creosote, pentachlorophenol, or copper-chrome-arsenic.

Sec. 2   RCW 80.50.075 and 1989 c 175 s 172 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Any person ((required to file)) filing an application for certification of an energy facility or an alternative energy resource facility pursuant to this chapter may apply to the council for an expedited processing of such an application. The application for expedited processing shall be submitted to the council in such form and manner and accompanied by such information as may be prescribed by council rule. The council may grant an applicant expedited processing of an application for certification upon finding that((:
     (a))) the environmental impact of the proposed energy facility((;
     (b) The area potentially affected;
     (c) The cost and magnitude of the proposed energy facility; and
     (d) The degree to which the proposed energy facility represents a change in use of the proposed site
are)) is not significant ((enough to warrant a full review of the application for certification under the provisions of this chapter)) or will be mitigated to a nonsignificant level under RCW 43.21C.031 and the project is found under RCW 80.50.090(2) to be consistent and in compliance with municipal, county, or regional land use plans or zoning ordinances.
     (2) Upon granting an applicant expedited processing of an application for certification, the council shall not be required to:
     (a) Commission an independent study to further measure the consequences of the proposed energy facility or alternative energy resource facility on the environment, notwithstanding the other provisions of RCW 80.50.071; nor
     (b) Hold an adjudicative proceeding under chapter 34.05 RCW, the administrative procedure act, on the application.
     (3) The council shall adopt rules governing the expedited processing of an application for certification pursuant to this section.

Sec. 3   RCW 80.50.090 and 2001 c 214 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The council shall conduct an informational public hearing in the county of the proposed site as soon as practicable but not later than sixty days after receipt of an application for site certification: PROVIDED, That the place of such public hearing shall be as close as practical to the proposed site.
     (2) Subsequent to the informational public hearing, the council shall conduct a public hearing to determine whether or not the proposed site is consistent and in compliance with municipal, county, or regional land use plans or zoning ordinances. If it is determined that the proposed site does conform with existing land use plans or zoning ordinances in effect as of the date of the application, the municipal, county, or regional planning authority shall not thereafter change such land use plans or zoning ordinances so as to affect the proposed site.
     (3) Prior to the issuance of a council recommendation to the governor under RCW 80.50.100 a public hearing, conducted as an adjudicative proceeding under chapter 34.05 RCW, the administrative procedure act, shall be held. At such public hearing any person shall be entitled to be heard in support of or in opposition to the application for certification.
     (4) Additional public hearings shall be held as deemed appropriate by the council in the exercise of its functions under this chapter.