AN ACT Relating to the Puget Sound water quality authority; and amending RCW 90.70.001, 90.70.060, and 90.70.070.

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

Sec. 1. Section 1, chapter 451, Laws of 1985 and RCW 90.70.001 are each amended to read as follows:

The legislature finds that Puget Sound and related inland marine waterways of Washington state represent a unique and unparalleled resource. A rich and varied range of marine organisms, composing an interdependent, sensitive communal ecosystem reside in these sheltered waters. Residents of this region enjoy a way of life centered around the waters of Puget Sound, featuring accessible recreational opportunities, world-class port facilities and water transportation systems, harvest of marine food resources, shoreline-oriented life styles, water-dependent industries, tourism, irreplaceable aesthetics and other activities, all of which to some degree depend upon a clean and healthy marine resource.

The legislature further finds that the consequences of careless husbanding of this resource have been dramatically illustrated in inland waterways associated with older and more extensively developed areas of the nation. Recent reports concerning degradation of water quality within this region's urban embayments raise alarming possibilities of similar despoliation of Puget Sound and other state waterways. These examples emphasize that the costs of restoration of aquatic resources, where such restoration is possible, greatly exceed the costs of responsible preservation.

The legislature declares that utilization of the Puget Sound resource carries a custodial obligation for preserving it. The people of the state have the unique opportunity to preserve this gift of nature, an understanding of the results of inattentive stewardship, the technical knowledge needed for control of degradation, and the obligation to undertake such control.

The legislature also recognizes the importance to the state and its economy of certain water-dependent uses and industries which have a potential to impact the waters of Puget Sound. While such uses must be required to operate as necessary to preserve Puget Sound and control its degradation, the legislature also recognizes that human activity and a viable commerce and economy necessarily impacts certain areas of Puget Sound. Therefore, a goal of this act must be to minimize and reduce any such impacts consistent with the maintenance of the economic viability of such uses.

The legislature further finds that the large number of governmental entities that now affect the water quality of Puget Sound have diverse interests and limited jurisdictions which cannot adequately address the cumulative, wide-ranging impacts which contribute to the degradation of Puget Sound. It is therefore the policy of the state of Washington to create a single entity with adequate resources to develop a comprehensive plan for water quality protection in Puget Sound to be implemented by existing state and local government agencies.

Sec. 2. Section 8, chapter 451, Laws of 1985 and RCW 90.70.060 are each amended to read as follows:

The plan adopted by the authority shall be a positive document prescribing the needed actions for the maintenance and enhancement of Puget Sound water quality. The plan shall address all the waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and, to the extent that they affect water quality in Puget Sound, all waters flowing into Puget Sound, and adjacent lands. The authority may define specific geographic boundaries within which the plan applies. The plan shall coordinate and incorporate existing planning and research efforts of state agencies and local government related to Puget Sound, and shall avoid duplication of existing efforts. The plan shall include:

(1) A statement of the goals and objectives for long and short-term management of the water quality of Puget Sound;

(2) A resource assessment which identifies critically sensitive areas, key characteristics, and other factors which lead to an understanding of Puget Sound as an ecosystem;

(3) Demographic information and assessment as relates to future water quality impacts on Puget Sound;

(4) An identification and legal analysis of all existing laws governing actions of government entities which may affect water quality management of Puget Sound, the interrelationships of those laws, and the effect of those laws on implementation of the provisions of the plan;

(5) Review and assessment of existing criteria and guidelines for governmental activities affecting Puget Sound's resources, including shoreline resources, aquatic resources, associated watersheds, recreational resources and commercial resources;

(6) Identification of research needs and priorities;

(7) ((~~Recommendations for guidelines, standards,~~)) Establishment of goals and timetables for protection and clean-up activities and the establishment of priorities for major clean-up investments and nonpoint source management, and the projected costs and environmental or human health benefits of such priorities;

(8) A procedure assuring local government initiated planning for Puget Sound water quality protection;

(9) Establishment of goals for sediment quality, which goals shall take into account the significance of risk to human health and the environment and the beneficial uses of various areas of Puget Sound. The goals shall not be applicable as cleanup standards for remediation under state or federal law;

(10) Ways to better coordinate federal, state, and local planning and management activities affecting Puget Sound's water quality;

((~~(10)~~)) (11) Public involvement strategies, including household hazardous waste education, community clean-up efforts, and public participation in developing and implementing the plan;

((~~(11)~~)) (12) Recommendations on protecting, preserving and, where possible, restoring wetlands and wildlife habitat and shellfish beds throughout Puget Sound;

((~~(12)~~)) (13) Recommendations for a comprehensive water quality and sediment monitoring program;

((~~(13)~~)) (14) Analysis of current industrial pretreatment programs for toxic wastes, and procedures and enforcement measures needed to enhance them;

((~~(14)~~)) (15) Recommendations for a program of dredge spoil disposal, including interim measures for disposal and storage of dredge spoil material from or into Puget Sound;

((~~(15)~~)) (16) Definition of major public actions subject to review and comment by the authority because of a significant impact on Puget Sound water quality and related resources, and development of criteria for review thereof;

((~~(16)~~)) (17) Recommendations for implementation mechanisms to be used by state and local government agencies;

((~~(17)~~)) (18) Standards and procedures for reporting progress by state and local governments in the implementation of the plan;

(19) An analysis of resource requirements and funding mechanisms for updating of the plan and plan implementation; and

(20) Legislation needed to assure plan implementation.

The authority shall circulate and receive comments on drafts of the plan mandated herein, and keep a record of all relevant comments made at public hearings and in writing. These records should be made easily available to interested persons.

Sec. 3. Section 9, chapter 451, Laws of 1985 and RCW 90.70.070 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) In conducting planning, regulatory, and appeals actions, the state agencies and local governments identified in the plan must evaluate, and incorporate as applicable and appropriate, the provisions of the plan, including any ((~~guidelines, standards,~~)) goals and timetables contained in the plan.

(2) The authority shall review the progress of state agencies and local governments regarding the timely implementation of the plan. Where prescribed actions have not been accomplished in accordance with the plan, the responsible state agencies and local governments shall, at the request of the authority, submit written explanations for the shortfalls, together with their proposed remedies, to the authority.

The results of the review and a description of the actions necessary to comply with the plan shall be included in the biennial state of the Sound report.

(3) Using its substantive authority pursuant to other statutes, the department of ecology shall establish by regulation standards or programs regarding water and sediment quality which will result in progress in achieving the water quality and sediment quality goals set forth in the plan. Such standards or programs shall take into account the existing beneficial uses by area, the feasible and cost-effective reduction of contaminant loadings from such uses, the level of risk to human health and the environment, and the need for, and likelihood of, achieving significant biological improvements through a reduction in contaminant loading. Any sediment standards adopted by the department to implement the goals set forth in the plan shall not be directly applicable as cleanup standards for remediation activities under state or federal law.

(4) The state agencies and local governments identified in the plan shall review their activities biennially and document their consistency with the plan. They shall submit written reports or updates of their findings to the authority.

((~~(4)~~)) (5) The authority shall review the major actions affected by the plan being considered by the state agencies and local governments and shall comment in a timely manner regarding consistency with the plan and may participate in administrative and subsequent judicial proceedings with respect to such actions. Any deviations from the plan, identified by the authority, shall be transmitted in writing by the authority to the responsible state agency or local government.