CS/HB 239

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to numeric nutrient water quality
3	criteria; creating s. 403.0675, F.S.; prohibiting the
4	implementation of certain federal numeric nutrient water
5	quality criteria rules by the Department of Environmental
6	Protection, water management districts, and other
7	governmental entities; clarifying the authority of water
8	management districts and other governmental entities with
9	respect to pollution control; providing construction;
10	authorizing the department to adopt numeric nutrient water
11	quality criteria for surface waters under certain
12	conditions; providing that certain total maximum daily
13	loads and associated numeric interpretations constitute
14	site specific numeric nutrient water quality criteria;
15	providing for effect, governance, and challenge of such
16	criteria; providing an effective date.
17
18	WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection
19	Agency's numeric nutrient water quality criteria rules for
20	Florida's lakes and flowing waters, finalized on December 6,
21	2010, and published in Volume 75, No. 233 of the Federal
22	Register, lack adequate scientific support and fail to take into
23	account the unique characteristics of the state's many thousands
24	of rivers, streams, and lakes, and
25	WHEREAS, the final numeric nutrient water quality criteria
26	rules fail to incorporate and actually undermine the state's
27	science-based nutrient water quality programs, including the
28	total maximum daily loads program, and numeric endpoints adopted
29	thereunder that the federal agency has approved as protective of
30	designated uses, and
31	WHEREAS, the federal agency declined to subject its
32	unprecedented, Florida-only numeric nutrient water quality
33	criteria rules to an independent scientific peer review or
34	economic analysis, and
35	WHEREAS, implementation of the numeric nutrient water
36	quality criteria rules would have severe economic consequences
37	on the state's agriculture, local governments, wastewater
38	utilities, economically vital industries, small businesses, and
39	residents living below the poverty level or on fixed incomes,
40	and
41	WHEREAS, implementation of the federal agency's numeric
42	nutrient water quality criteria rules would require Floridians
43	to needlessly expend resources pursuing numerous exemptions,
44	variances, and other relief mechanisms made necessary by the
45	scientific flaws underlying the federal agency's criteria,
46	consequently resulting in the delay of restoration projects that
47	are already underway in the total maximum daily loads program
48	and other water quality programs, and
49	WHEREAS, the Clean Water Act grants the State of Florida
50	primacy in protecting state waters from pollution, and the
51	federal agency's numeric nutrient water quality criteria
52	rulemaking undermines this cooperative federalism structure,
53	NOW, THEREFORE,
54
55	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
56
57	Section 1.  Section 403.0675, Florida Statutes, is created
58	to read:
59	403.0675  Numeric nutrient water quality criteria.-
60	(1)(a)  The department, water management districts, and all
61	other state, regional, and local governmental entities may not
62	implement or give any effect to the United States Environmental
63	Protection Agency's nutrient water quality criteria rules for
64	the state's lakes and flowing waters, finalized on December 6,
65	2010, and published in Volume 75, No. 233 of the Federal
66	Register, in any regulatory program administered by the
67	department, water management district, or governmental entity.
68	(b)  The prohibition in paragraph (a) does not limit the
69	ability of any water management district or any other state,
70	regional, or local governmental entity from applying for any
71	pollution discharge permit or complying with the conditions of
72	such permits, including those issued under the Federal National
73	Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or from implementing
74	best management practices, source control, or pollution
75	abatement measures for water quality improvement programs as
76	provided by law.
77	(2)  This section does not derogate or limit county and
78	municipal home rule authority.
79	(3)  Notwithstanding subsection (1), the department may
80	adopt numeric nutrient water quality criteria for a particular
81	surface water or group of surface waters if the department
82	determines that such criteria are necessary to protect aquatic
83	life reasonably expected to inhabit those waters. The numeric
84	nutrient water quality criteria adopted pursuant to this
85	subsection:
86	(a)  Shall be based on objective and credible data and
87	studies and reports establishing the nutrient levels at which
88	the water bodies may accept or assimilate without exhibiting
89	imbalances of naturally occurring populations of flora and fauna
90	based on a cause and effect relationship between nutrient levels
91	and biological responses.
92	(b)  May be expressed in terms of concentration, mass
93	loading, waste load allocation, and surrogate standards, such as
94	chlorophyll-a, and may be supplemented by narrative statements.
95	(4)(a)  Numeric nutrient total maximum daily loads and
96	associated numeric interpretations of the narrative nutrient
97	criterion, whether total nitrogen, total phosphorus,
98	nitrate/nitrite, or a surrogate nutrient standard, such as
99	chlorophyll-a, biological demand, or specific biological metric,
100	developed by the department and approved by the United States
101	Environmental Protection Agency as of December 6, 2010,
102	constitute site specific numeric nutrient water quality
103	criteria.
104	(b)  The site specific numeric nutrient water quality
105	criteria established pursuant to this subsection are:
106	1.  Not effective if the United States Environmental
107	Protection Agency disapproves, approves in part, or conditions
108	its approval of the criteria, unless ratified by the
109	Legislature.
110	2.  Subject to s. 403.067, including any rules or orders
111	issued thereunder, and to challenge under s. 120.56(3).
112	(c)  Once approved and effective, the site specific numeric
113	nutrient water quality criteria established pursuant to this
114	subsection may be modified, based on objective and credible data
115	and studies and reports, by department rulemaking in accordance
116	with s. 403.804.
117	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.