H-3755.2 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2985
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State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002 Regular Session
By Representatives Ericksen, Anderson, Armstrong, Schindler, Holmquist, Mielke, Pflug, Mulliken, Boldt and Woods
Read first time 02/27/2002. Referred to Committee on Transportation.
AN ACT Relating to transportation project permits; and adding new sections to chapter 47.06C RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that watershed planning and protection can enhance the selection of wetland, storm water, and riparian mitigation sites. The legislature also finds that locating mitigation sites adjacent to or in close proximity to impacted sites may not be the most beneficial use of those sites within a watershed, and that locating mitigation sites to better locations within a watershed can both enhance the benefits of department mitigation and reduce the cost of that mitigation.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. When developing wetlands, storm water, and riparian mitigation sites for ecological restoration and enhancement as compensation for impacts within a water resource inventory area, the department may locate those wetlands at any location within the same water resource inventory area. In evaluating mitigation sites, the department shall consider the hydrology of the watershed, the location of other environmental projects and activities by regional fishery enhancement groups or other watershed groups, and the costs and benefits of those sites.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department shall develop a unified one-stop permit process for transportation projects to comply with environmental standards and best management practices set forth in federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The department shall make this process available to local governments that may wish to adopt it.
The department shall contact appropriate agencies to form an interdisciplinary team for projects not covered by programmatic permits. These teams must include the department, permitting/resource agencies, and private or public sector discipline experts.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The department shall seek comment and audits from agencies that issue permits to department projects. The department shall work with these agencies to insure access to those agencies for periodic auditing of the department process, performing project visits for compliance, and review of monitoring data. The department shall compile data from this process to measure its performance in terms of permit compliance, environmental benefit, project delivery, and cost savings.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The permit process may be expanded or contracted to fit the unique issues for a project and may include federal, state, and local jurisdictions, and any number of media such as air, watershed, water quality, water resource, hydraulic permit approval, noise, wetlands, streambank protection, shorelines, hazardous materials, erosion control, or other environmental elements that may require approval by regulatory bodies. This process is intended as an extension of the National Environmental Policy Act and the State Environmental Policy Act documentation process, and is not intended to supplant early involvement by resource and regulatory agencies, but rather is intended to streamline the permitting process.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1 through 5 of this act are added to chapter 47.06C RCW.
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