Coalition Request Related to Statewide Dredged or Fill Procedures Jul 18, 2016 Comment Letters Agency: State Water Resources Control Board Subject: Request for Additional Outreach and Extension of Public Comment Period for Proposed Procedures for Discharges of Dredged or Fill Materials to Waters of the State Other signatories: Bay Planning Coalition Building Industry Association of Southern California Building Industry Legal Defense Foundation California Association of REALTORS® California Association of Winegrape Growers California Building Industry Association California Business Properties Association California Cattlemen’s Association California Chamber of Commerce California Construction and Industrial Materials Association California Farm Bureau Federation California Forestry Association California League of Food Processors California State Associations of Counties California Water Association Construction Industry Coalition on Water Quality Orange County Business Council Pacifica Legal Foundation Rural County Representatives of California Valley Ag Water Coalition Western Growers Association Western States Petroleum Association Wine Institute Letter excerpt: The Proposed Amendments would supersede all existing policies for the regulation of fill of waters of the state being used by the nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards (“Regional Boards”), adopt a definition of “wetlands” that departs from the long-standing federal definition and may extend to features beyond the scope of the state’s regulatory authority under the Porter Cologne Act, and impose new and potentially burdensome permitting requirements for many public and private projects across the state. It appears that in many instances these new requirements would be unnecessarily duplicative of, or largely overlap existing permitting requirements, including the federal Clean Water Act § 404 program and the California Fish and Wildlife Lake and Streambed Alteration program. The creation of an entirely new state-wide program of this magnitude would have broad consequences for a number of public and private sectors and, if not carefully considered, could affect economic growth, delay important public projects, introduce substantial uncertainty for stakeholders, increase the potential for litigation over proposed projects, and impose significant costs without a concomitant environmental benefit. Despite the potentially widespread programmatic implications of the Proposed Amendments, there is only limited information in the documentation provided by the State Board about how the proposal may actually impact future projects in California. For example, the Staff Report accompanying the Proposed Amendments concludes that the “universe of future applicants and projects involving dredged or fill discharges is largely unknown” and, therefore, does not provide more than a qualitative assessment of potential costs or consequences associated with the proposal. We anticipate, however, that this proposal would impose new requirements on thousands of public and private permit applicants and projects annually with as yet unclear consequences. For example, the Regional Boards issue more than one thousand Clean Water Act § 401 certifications annually and it is not unusual for Regional Board action on requested certifications to take in excess of eighteen months. Those § 401 certifications represent only a fraction of the projects that would be subject to the proposed new requirements which would also impose additional requirements on federal Nationwide Permit applicants and projects potentially impacting state waters not subject to federal jurisdiction (or otherwise subject to long-standing exclusions from the federal program). An overly broad, ambiguous, or poorly planned new program of this magnitude could stretch Regional Board resources beyond the breaking point and have both immediate and long-term consequences for all projects across the State. Download coalition letter
