North Carolina § 143-214 - 7C. Prohibit the requirement of mitigation for certain impacts; establish threshold for mitigation of impacts to streams.

§ 143-214. 7C. Prohibit the requirement of mitigation for certain impacts; establish threshold for mitigation of impacts to streams.

Except as required by federal law, the Department of Environmental Quality shall not require mitigation for any of the following: Impacts to an intermittent stream. For purposes of this section, "intermittent stream" means a well-defined channel that has all of the following characteristics: It contains water for only part of the year, typically during winter and spring when the aquatic bed is below the water table. The flow of water in the intermittent stream may be heavily supplemented by stormwater runoff. It often lacks the biological and hydrological characteristics commonly associated with the conveyance of water. Impacts associated with the removal of a dam when the removal complies with the requirements of Part 3 of this Article. Except as required by federal law, the Department of Environmental Quality shall not require mitigation for losses of 300 linear feet or less of stream bed. History (2015-241, s. 14.30(c); 2015-286, s. 4.31(a); 2017-10, s. 3.13(a); 2017-145, s. 2(a).) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2015-286, s. 5.2, made this section effective October 1, 2015. Session Laws 2015-241, s. 14.30(c), provides: "The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is renamed the Department of Environmental Quality. All references to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources or the Department of Cultural Resources in acts of the 2015 General Assembly taking effect on or after the effective date of this section [July 1, 2015] and in the Committee Report described in Section 33.2 of this act shall be construed to refer to the Department of Environmental Quality or the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, respectively. References to duties or requirements of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with respect to entities transferred under subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall be construed as duties or requirements of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources as reorganized by this section." Pursuant to this authority, "Department of Environmental Quality" was substituted for "Department of Environment and Natural Resources" in the first sentence. Session Laws 2015-241, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as `The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2015.'" Session Laws 2015-241, s. 33.6, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2017-10, s. 3.13(b)-(c), provides: "(b) The Environmental Management Commission shall amend its rules consistent with subsection (a) of this section. "(c) The cochairs of the Environmental Review Commission shall examine the mitigation thresholds for losses of stream bed under the Regional Conditions adopted by the Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah Districts of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and shall submit written comments to the Washington, D.C., Headquarters, the Wilmington District Office of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the North Carolina congressional delegation to encourage the Wilmington District to adopt Regional Conditions on the thresholds for losses of stream bed that are consistent with the Regional Conditions adopted by the Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah Districts of the United States Army Corps of Engineers." Session Laws 2017-10, s. 5.1, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2017-145, s. 2(b), provides: "The Division of Water Resources of the Department of Environmental Quality shall develop a water quality general certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act for short-term sediment releases associated with the construction phase of a dam removal when all of the following occur: "(1) The removal meets the definition and requirements of a professionally supervised dam removal under G.S. 143-215.27 , as amended by Section 1 of this act. "(2) The applicant for the water quality general certification demonstrates that the sediment to be released has similar or lower level of contamination than sediment sampled from downstream of the dam." Session Laws 2017-145, s. 3, provides: "The Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Public Safety shall jointly study the dam removal process in North Carolina and recommend further changes in statutes or rules to reduce regulatory barriers to the removal of obsolete and unwanted dams and consolidate duplicative permit processes. As part of its study, the Departments shall review the dam removal permitting processes in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania and other states as the Department finds relevant. The Departments shall jointly submit its report to the Environmental Review Commission no later than March 1, 2020." Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2017-10, s. 3.13(a), effective May 4, 2017, in the section heading, added "establish threshold for mitigation of impacts to streams" and made a related change; designated the existing provisions as subsection (a); and added subsection (b). Session Laws 2017-145, s. 2(a), effective July 1, 2017, substituted "certain impacts" for "impacts to intermittent streams" in the section heading; substituted "any of the following" for "impacts" in subsection (a); added the present subdivision (a)(1) designation; redesignated former subdivision (a)(1) through subdivision (a)(3) as present subdivision (a)(1)a. through subdivision (a)(1)c.; and added subdivision (a)(2).