HB 612

In order to avoid pollution and environmental degradation, present law requires the commissio ner of environment and conservation to issue permits for certain activities and discharges. If the commissioner finds that a category of activities or discharges would be appropriately regulated under a general permit, which is the lowest level permit, t h en the commissioner may issue such a permit instead of an individual permit. However, the department of environment and conservation may issue an aquatic resource alteration permit (ARAP) to a person in connection with the removal of sand, gravel, and si m ilar sediments or deposits from streams or wetlands. Both permits require a provision for certain adequate compensatory mitigation, by mitigation banking, permittee-responsible mitigation, or in-lieu fee payments as approved by the department. Present l aw provides that if the only factor that disqualifies an applicant for an ARAP for wetland impacts from having the activities for which a permit is sought covered under a general permit is the size of the wetland that the permit will apply to, then the de p artment must exempt from compensatory mitigation an amount of wetland equal in size to the area for which mitigation would not be required if the permit applicant qualified for coverage under a general permit. In other words, if the only issue with getti n g the general permit is that the wetland is too big, then the department must exempt the permit from providing compensation for an equivalent size of wetland that would not have been required compensation under the general permit. This bill expands the a bove provision from the size of any wetlands to the size of the area as a whole. Therefore, if the only factor that disqualifies an applicant for an ARAP from having the activities covered under a general permit is the size of the area that the permit wi l l apply to, then the department must exempt from compensatory mitigation an area equal in size to the area for which mitigation would not be required if the permit applicant qualified for coverage under a general permit. ON APRIL 10, 2025, THE HOUSE ADO PTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 612, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 clarifies that the measurements that will be utilized under this bill are the acreage of wetland impacts or the length of stream impacts instead of "the size of the area the permit wil l apply to""."