BILL REQ. #:  S-3375.3 

Read first time 01/15/14.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Water & Rural Economic Development.

     AN ACT Relating to protecting water quality while maintaining and enhancing the viability of agriculture; amending RCW 90.48.080; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that Washington's thirty-nine thousand five hundred farms and ranches generate one hundred sixty thousand jobs, forty-nine billion dollars in revenue, and thirteen percent of the state's economy, powering a diverse food and agricultural economy that is critical to maintaining a strong state economy. The legislature also finds that Washington is at risk of losing its base of working agricultural lands, and that the cumulative impact of nonpoint water quality regulations can impair the economic viability of agricultural operations and cause open space agricultural land to be converted to nonagricultural development.
     (2) Therefore, the legislature declares that the protection of normal and customary agricultural practices upon agricultural land is essential to maintaining the public welfare in its highest state, supporting the farm and ranch capacity to produce good local food, and preserving open spaces. The legislature further declares that state and federal agencies, in working to achieve nonpoint agricultural water quality improvements, must also take precautions to protect the economic viability of agricultural operations and minimize the conversion of agricultural land to other uses.
     (3) Therefore, the legislature intends that normal and customary agricultural activities protected from over-regulation under federal law be granted equivalent protection from over-regulation under state law. The legislature directs government agencies tasked with protecting water quality to work cooperatively with agricultural landowners and conservation districts in order to fully utilize new and existing voluntary incentives and promote nonpoint agricultural water quality solutions to the maximum extent practicable prior to taking any nonpoint water quality enforcement action.

Sec. 2   RCW 90.48.080 and 1987 c 109 s 126 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) It shall be unlawful for any person to throw, drain, run, or otherwise discharge into any of the waters of this state, or to cause, permit or suffer to be thrown, run, drained, allowed to seep or otherwise discharged into such waters any organic or inorganic matter that shall cause or tend to cause pollution of such waters according to the determination of the department, as provided for in this chapter. The extent of the department's regulatory authority over nonpoint agricultural activities under this chapter must be consistent with the extent of the pertinent federal agency's regulatory authority under the following federal statutory provisions:
     (a) The federal clean water act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq., and the national pollution discharge elimination system point source permit requirements of the federal clean water act, which shall have the same meaning and be subject to the same exemptions and conditions as in the federal act, including:
     (i) Agricultural storm water discharges; and
     (ii) Return flows from irrigated agriculture;
     (b) The dredge and fill permit requirements of the federal clean water act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq., which shall have the same meaning and be subject to the same exemptions and conditions as in the federal act, including:
     (i) Normal and customary farming and ranching activities such as plowing, seeding, cultivating, minor drainage, harvesting for the production of food and fiber, or upland soil and water conservation practices;
     (ii) Construction or maintenance of farm or stock ponds or irrigation districts, or the maintenance of drainage ditches;
     (iii) Construction or maintenance of farm roads where the roads are constructed and maintained, in accordance with best management practices, to ensure that flow and circulation patterns and chemical and biological characteristics of the navigable waters are not impaired, that the reach of the navigable waters is not reduced, and that any adverse effect on the aquatic environment will be otherwise minimized; and
     (iv) Maintenance, including emergency reconstruction of recently damaged parts, of currently serviceable structures such as dikes, dams, levees, groins, riprap, breakwaters, causeways, and bridge abutments or approaches, and transportation structures;
     (c) The federal food security act of 1985, 99 Stat. 1354; P.L. 99-198, which shall have the same meaning and be subject to the same exemptions and conditions as in the federal act, including provisions for croplands converted to agricultural use prior to December 23, 1985; and
     (d) The department's regulation of nonpoint agricultural activities under this chapter must also be consistent with the following legislative directives to:
     (i) Minimize the conversion of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses, as provided under RCW 90.48.450;     
     (ii) Base regulatory decisions on sound science, as provided under RCW 34.05.272;
     (iii) Ensure that regulation is based on credible water quality data, as provided under RCW 90.48.570 through 90.48.590;
     (iv) Promote regional equity by ensuring that the department's regulation of nonpoint agricultural activities does not impose significantly greater costs or burdens on Washington agricultural operations than regulation of similar operations and activities in states bordering Washington.
     (2) For the purposes of this section, "agricultural activities" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 90.58.065.