January 7 WQC Agenda

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION
WATER QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA

January 7, 2015
Archdale Building-Ground Floor Hearing Room
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

General Statute § 138A-15 mandates that the Chairman inquire as to whether any member knows of any known conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to matters before the Environmental Management Commission’s Water Quality Committee (WQC). If any member knows of a conflict of interest or appearance of conflict, please so state at this time.

Steve Tedder, Chairman Presiding

I. Preliminary Matters

1. Approval of Summary for November 12, 2014 WQC meeting (attached).

II. Agenda Items

1. 2014 Annual Report onWater Supply Watershed Ordinance Approvals, Universal Stormwater Management Ordinance Approvals, and Phase II Program Implementation Delegations – (Julie Ventaloro)

No presentation is planned, but staff will be present to answer questions.

2. Request to Proceed to Environmental Management Commission (EMC) to Ask for Permission to Proceed to Public Hearing with 15A NCAC 02B .0295 (Consolidated Buffer Mitigation Rule) and Approved Fiscal Note Addendum in accordance with NC G.S. 150B-19.1 - (Action Item) (Sue Homewood)

Temporary Rule 15A NCAC 02B .0295 was approved by the Rules Review Commission (RRC) on October 16, 2014 and became effective on October 24, 2014.  The temporary rule will expire on August 14, 2015, unless the permanent rule adopted by the EMC to replace the temporary rule has been submitted to the Rules Review Commission by that date.  During RRC review of Temporary Rule 02B .0295, substantial changes to the text were requested by the RRC.  Due to legislative mandates, many of the technical change requests were allowed to be delayed until permanent rule making.  The proposed permanent rule incorporates text changes as suggested by RRC review, as well as text changes that provide clarification in areas noted by staff.  In addition, the rule has been reorganized to provide further clarity.  To facilitate review the Division of Water Resources is providing four versions of the draft permanent rule:

1.  The adopted temporary rule with all text changes identified using strikethroughs and underlines.

2.  Version 1 reorganized by Division Water Resources staff.  This version identifies text changes to facilitate the reorganization but does not use strikethroughs or underlines to identify reordering/renumbering or relocations of text.

3.  The adopted temporary rule with all text and reorganizational changes identified as required by Office of Administrative Hearings for adoption and public notice.

4.  A clean version of the draft permanent rule.

In accordance with G.S. 150B-21.4 and with Executive (E.O.) 70 from October 21, 2010 as amended by E.O. 48 from April 9, 2014, OSBM has reviewed and on November 4, 2014 approved a Department of Environment and Natural Resources Addendum to the original Buffer Mitigation Fiscal Note, October 12, 2012.  The Director recommends that the WQC approve the proposed rule to proceed to the EMC for approval to proceed to public notice. (Attachments enclosed: Draft Permanent Rule showing temporary rule with track changes, Draft Permanent Rule showing reorganized temporary rule with track changes for text changes only, Draft permanent Rule reorganized with track changes for public notice, Draft Permanent Rule – reorganized CLEAN for public notice, Fiscal Analysis Addendum 2 compiled for public notice 2015, and PowerPoint Presentation)

3. North Carolina Nutrient Criteria Development Plan  – (Information Item) (Steve Kroeger)

In June 2014 the Division of Water Resources and EPA mutually agreed to the NC Nutrient Criteria Development Plan (NCDP).  Staff will update the WQC on the progress made on the NCDP and on the progress in establishing advisory committees. (Attachments enclosed: NCDP(June 20, 2014) and PowerPoint Presentation)

4. Restoration and Monitoring Prioritization Tool – (Information Item) (Melanie Williams)

The Prioritization Tool was developed to facilitate fulfillment of an EPA requirement for the Nonpoint Source Management Program to prioritize watersheds that would receive 319 implementation funds.  Several other Branches within the Section were also performing prioritization of watershed restoration, so in an attempt to consolidate efforts, a workgroup was formed to develop a model/method that could be used Section-wide.  The resulting product was a prioritized list of water bodies that need to be restored.  This list could be utilized to help prioritize things like workflows, grant applications, restoration efforts, among others.  The tool was expanded to prioritize Division Water Resources ambient water quality monitoring stations.  (Attachments enclosed: PowerPoint Presentation)

III. Closing Comments   Chairman Tedder

This agenda is available on the internet at /about/divisions/water-resources/environmental-management-commission/meetings-agendas-minutes/2015/january-7-wqc-agenda