Florida Senate - 2011 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 524
Barcode 823540
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/17/2011 .
.
.
.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
The Committee on Transportation (Latvala) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Between lines 577 and 578
4 insert:
5 Section 6. Subsection (4) of section 310.002, Florida
6 Statutes, is amended to read:
7 310.002 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, except where
8 the context clearly indicates otherwise:
9 (4) “Port” means any place in the state into which vessels
10 enter or depart and includes, without limitation, Fernandina,
11 Nassau Inlet, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Canaveral, Port
12 Citrus, Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Key
13 West, Boca Grande, Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, Tampa, Port
14 Tampa, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Apalachicola,
15 Carrabelle, Panama City, Port St. Joe, and Pensacola.
16 Section 7. Subsection (1) of section 311.09, Florida
17 Statutes, is amended to read:
18 311.09 Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
19 Development Council.—
20 (1) The Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
21 Development Council is created within the Department of
22 Transportation. The council consists of the following 18 17
23 members: the port director, or the port director’s designee, of
24 each of the ports of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus,
25 Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee,
26 St. Petersburg, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key
27 West, and Fernandina; the secretary of the Department of
28 Transportation or his or her designee; the director of the
29 Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development or his or her
30 designee; and the secretary of the Department of Community
31 Affairs or his or her designee.
32 Section 8. Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
33 374.976, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
34 374.976 Authority to address impacts of waterway
35 development projects.—
36 (1) Each inland navigation district is empowered and
37 authorized to undertake programs intended to alleviate the
38 problems associated with its waterway or waterways, including,
39 but not limited to, the following:
40 (c) The district is authorized to aid and cooperate with
41 the Federal Government; state; member counties; nonmember
42 counties that contain any part of the intracoastal waterway
43 within their boundaries; navigation districts; the seaports of
44 Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Fort Pierce, Palm
45 Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg,
46 Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key West, and
47 Fernandina; and local governments within the district in
48 planning and carrying out public navigation, local and regional
49 anchorage management, beach renourishment, public recreation,
50 inlet management, environmental education, and boating safety
51 projects, directly related to the waterways. The district is
52 also authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the
53 United States Army Corps of Engineers, state, and member
54 counties, and to covenant in any such cooperative agreement to
55 pay part of the costs of acquisition, planning, development,
56 construction, reconstruction, extension, improvement, operation,
57 and maintenance of such projects.
58 Section 9. Subsection (9) of section 403.021, Florida
59 Statutes, is amended to read:
60 403.021 Legislative declaration; public policy.—
61 (9)(a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is
62 essential to preserve and maintain authorized water depth in the
63 existing navigation channels, port harbors, turning basins, and
64 harbor berths of this state in order to provide for the
65 continued safe navigation of deepwater shipping commerce. The
66 department shall recognize that maintenance of authorized water
67 depths consistent with port master plans developed pursuant to
68 s. 163.3178(2)(k) is an ongoing, continuous, beneficial, and
69 necessary activity that is in the public interest; and it shall
70 develop a regulatory process that shall enable the ports of this
71 state to conduct such activities in an environmentally sound,
72 safe, expeditious, and cost-efficient manner. It is the further
73 intent of the Legislature that the permitting and enforcement of
74 dredging, dredged-material management, and other related
75 activities for Florida’s deepwater ports pursuant to this
76 chapter and chapters 161, 253, and 373 shall be consolidated
77 within the department’s Division of Water Resource Management
78 and, with the concurrence of the affected deepwater port or
79 ports, may be administered by a district office of the
80 department or delegated to an approved local environmental
81 program.
82 (b) The provisions of paragraph (a) apply only to the port
83 waters, dredged-material management sites, port harbors,
84 navigation channels, turning basins, and harbor berths used for
85 deepwater commercial navigation in the ports of Jacksonville,
86 Tampa, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft.
87 Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St.
88 Petersburg, Pensacola, Fernandina, and Key West.
89 Section 10. Subsection (26) of section 403.061, Florida
90 Statutes, is amended to read:
91 403.061 Department; powers and duties.—The department shall
92 have the power and the duty to control and prohibit pollution of
93 air and water in accordance with the law and rules adopted and
94 promulgated by it and, for this purpose, to:
95 (26)(a) Develop standards and criteria for waters used for
96 deepwater shipping which standards and criteria consider
97 existing water quality; appropriate mixing zones and other
98 requirements for maintenance dredging in previously constructed
99 deepwater navigation channels, port harbors, turning basins, or
100 harbor berths; and appropriate mixing zones for disposal of
101 spoil material from dredging and, where necessary, develop a
102 separate classification for such waters. Such classification,
103 standards, and criteria shall recognize that the present
104 dedicated use of these waters is for deepwater commercial
105 navigation.
106 (b) The provisions of paragraph (a) apply only to the port
107 waters, spoil disposal sites, port harbors, navigation channels,
108 turning basins, and harbor berths used for deepwater commercial
109 navigation in the ports of Jacksonville, Tampa, Port Everglades,
110 Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, Port
111 Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St. Petersburg, Port Bartow,
112 Florida Power Corporation’s Crystal River Canal, Boca Grande,
113 Green Cove Springs, and Pensacola.
114
115 The department shall implement such programs in conjunction with
116 its other powers and duties and shall place special emphasis on
117 reducing and eliminating contamination that presents a threat to
118 humans, animals or plants, or to the environment.
119 Section 11. Subsection (3) of section 403.813, Florida
120 Statutes, is amended to read:
121 403.813 Permits issued at district centers; exceptions.—
122 (3) For maintenance dredging conducted under this section
123 by the seaports of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus,
124 Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee,
125 St. Petersburg, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key
126 West, and Fernandina or by inland navigation districts:
127 (a) A mixing zone for turbidity is granted within a 150
128 meter radius from the point of dredging while dredging is
129 ongoing, except that the mixing zone may not extend into areas
130 supporting wetland communities, submerged aquatic vegetation, or
131 hardbottom communities.
132 (b) The discharge of the return water from the site used
133 for the disposal of dredged material shall be allowed only if
134 such discharge does not result in a violation of water quality
135 standards in the receiving waters. The return-water discharge
136 into receiving waters shall be granted a mixing zone for
137 turbidity within a 150-meter radius from the point of discharge
138 during and immediately after the dredging, except that the
139 mixing zone may not extend into areas supporting wetland
140 communities, submerged aquatic vegetation, or hardbottom
141 communities.
142 (c) The state may not exact a charge for material that this
143 subsection allows a public port or an inland navigation district
144 to remove.
145 (d) The use of flocculants at the site used for disposal of
146 the dredged material is allowed if the use, including supporting
147 documentation, is coordinated in advance with the department and
148 the department has determined that the use is not harmful to
149 water resources.
150 (e) This subsection does not prohibit maintenance dredging
151 of areas where the loss of original design function and
152 constructed configuration has been caused by a storm event,
153 provided that the dredging is performed as soon as practical
154 after the storm event. Maintenance dredging that commences
155 within 3 years after the storm event shall be presumed to
156 satisfy this provision. If more than 3 years are needed to
157 commence the maintenance dredging after the storm event, a
158 request for a specific time extension to perform the maintenance
159 dredging shall be submitted to the department, prior to the end
160 of the 3-year period, accompanied by a statement, including
161 supporting documentation, demonstrating that contractors are not
162 available or that additional time is needed to obtain
163 authorization for the maintenance dredging from the United
164 States Army Corps of Engineers.
165 Section 12. Section 403.816, Florida Statutes, is amended
166 to read:
167 403.816 Permits for maintenance dredging of deepwater ports
168 and beach restoration projects.—
169 (1) The department shall establish a permit system under
170 this chapter and chapter 253 which provides for the performance,
171 for up to 25 years from the issuance of the original permit, of
172 maintenance dredging of permitted navigation channels, port
173 harbors, turning basins, harbor berths, and beach restoration
174 projects approved pursuant to chapter 161. However, permits
175 issued for dredging river channels which are not a part of a
176 deepwater port shall be valid for no more than five years. No
177 charge shall be exacted by the state for material removed during
178 such maintenance dredging by a public port authority.
179 (2) The provisions of s. 253.77 do not apply to a permit
180 for maintenance dredging and spoil site approval when there is
181 no change in the size or location of the spoil disposal site and
182 when the applicant provides documentation to the department that
183 the appropriate lease, easement, or consent of use for the
184 project site issued pursuant to chapter 253 is recorded in the
185 county where the project is located.
186 (3) The provisions of this section relating to ports apply
187 only to the port waters, spoil disposal sites, port harbors,
188 navigation channels, turning basins, and harbor berths used for
189 deepwater commercial navigation in the ports of Jacksonville,
190 Tampa, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft.
191 Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St.
192 Petersburg, Port Bartow, Florida Power Corporation’s Crystal
193 River Canal, Boca Grande, Green Cove Springs, and Pensacola.
194
195
196 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
197 And the title is amended as follows:
198 Between lines 32 and 33
199 insert:
200 amending s. 310.002, F.S.; redefining the term “port” to
201 include Port Citrus; amending s. 311.09, F.S.; including a
202 representative of Port Citrus as a member of the Florida Seaport
203 Transportation and Economic Development Council; amending s.
204 374.976, F.S.; conforming provisions to include Port Citrus in
205 provisions relating to the authority of inland navigation
206 districts; amending s. 403.021, F.S.; conforming provisions to
207 include Port Citrus in legislative declarations relating to
208 environmental control; amending s. 403.061, F.S.; conforming
209 provisions to include Port Citrus in provisions relating to
210 powers of the Department of Environmental Protection; amending
211 s. 403.813, F.S.; conforming provisions to include Port Citrus
212 in provisions relating to permits issued at Department of
213 Environmental Protection district centers; amending s. 403.816,
214 F.S.; conforming provisions to include Port Citrus in provisions
215 relating to certain maintenance projects at deepwater ports and
216 beach restoration projects;
217