(a)Development and Adoption of Classifications and Standards. - The Commission is hereby directed and empowered, as rapidly as possible within the limits of funds and facilities available to it, and subject to the procedural requirements of this Article:
(1)To develop and adopt, after proper study, a series of classifications and the standards applicable to each such classification, which will be appropriate for the purpose of classifying each of the waters of the State in such a way as to promote the policy and purposes of this Article most effectively;
(2)To survey all the waters of the State and to separately identify all such waters as the Commission believes ought to be classified separately in order to promote the policy and purposes of this Article, omitting only such waters, as
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(a) Development and Adoption of Classifications and Standards. - The Commission is hereby directed and empowered, as rapidly as possible within the limits of funds and facilities available to it, and subject to the procedural requirements of this Article:
(1) To develop and adopt, after proper study, a series of classifications and the standards applicable to each such classification, which will be appropriate for the purpose of classifying each of the waters of the State in such a way as to promote the policy and purposes of this Article most effectively;
(2) To survey all the waters of the State and to separately identify all such waters as the Commission believes ought to be classified separately in order to promote the policy and purposes of this Article, omitting only such waters, as in the opinion of the Commission, are insufficiently important to justify classification or control under this Article; and
(3) To assign to each identified water of the State such classification, from the series adopted as specified above, as the Commission deems proper in order to promote the policy and purposes of this Article most effectively.
(b) Criteria for Classification. - In developing and adopting classifications, and the standards applicable to each, the Commission shall recognize that a number of different classifications should be provided for (with different standards applicable to each) so as to give effect to the need for balancing conflicting considerations as to usage and other variable factors; that different classifications with different standards applicable thereto may frequently be appropriate for different segments of the same water; and that each classification and the standards applicable thereto should be adopted with primary reference to the best usage to be made of the waters to which such classification will be assigned.
(c) Criteria for Standards. - In establishing the standards applicable to each classification, the Commission shall consider and the standards when finally adopted and published shall state: the extent to which any physical, chemical, or biological properties should be prescribed as essential to the contemplated best usage.
(d) Criteria for Assignment of Classifications. - In assigning to each identified water the appropriate classifications (with its accompanying standards), the Commission shall consider, and the decision of the Commission when finally adopted and published shall contain its conclusions with respect to the following factors as related to such identified waters:
(1) The size, depth, surface area covered, volume, direction and rate of flow, stream gradient and temperature of the water;
(2) The character of the district bordering said water, including any peculiar suitability such district may have or any dominant economic interest or development which has become established in relation to or by reason of any particular use of such water;
(3) The uses and extent thereof which have been made, are being made, or may in the future be made, of such water for domestic consumption, bathing, fish or wildlife and their culture, industrial consumption, transportation, fire prevention, power generation, scientific or research uses, the disposal of sewage, industrial wastes and other wastes, or any other uses;
(4) In revising existing or adopting new water quality classifications or standards, the Commission shall consider the use and value of State waters for public water supply, propagation of fish and wildlife, recreation, agriculture, industrial and other purposes, use and value for navigation, and shall take into consideration, among other things, an estimate as prepared under section 305(b)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972 of the environmental impact, the economic and social costs necessary to achieve the proposed standards, the economic and social benefits of such achievement and an estimate of the date of such achievement;
(5) With regard to the groundwaters, the factors to be considered shall include the natural quality of the water below land surface and the condition of occurrences, recharge, movement and discharge, the vulnerability to pollution from wastewaters and other substances, and the potential for improvement of the quality and quantity of the water.
(e) Chapter 150B of the General Statutes governs the adoption and publication of rules under this Article.
(f), (g) Repealed by Session Laws 1987, c. 827, s. 156.
(1951, c. 606; 1957, c. 1275, s. 2; 1967, c. 892, s. 1; 1969, c. 822, s. 1; 1973, c. 1262, s. 23; 1975, c. 19, s. 50; c. 583, s. 8; c. 655, s. 5; 1977, c. 771, s. 4; 1979, c. 633, s. 6; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1199; 1983, c. 296, s. 1; 1987, c. 827, ss. 154, 156.)
§ 143-214.1A. Water quality certification requirements for certain projects.
(a) The following requirements shall govern applications for certification filed with the Department pursuant to section 401 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1), for maintenance dredging projects partially funded by the Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund, electric generation projects located at an existing or former electric generating facility, and projects involving the distribution or transmission of energy or fuel, including natural gas, diesel, petroleum, or electricity:
(1) Within 30 days of the filing of such application, a supplemental application, or a supplemental information on a pending application, the Department shall (i) determine whether or not the application is complete and notify the applicant accordingly and (ii), if the Department determines an application is incomplete, specify all such deficiencies in the notice to the applicant. The applicant may file an amended application or supplemental information to cure the deficiencies identified by the Department for the Department's review. An application may be deemed incomplete only if it does not provide sufficient information necessary for the Department to determine if the proposed discharges into navigable waters will comply with State water quality requirements. If the Department fails to issue a notice as to whether or not the application is complete within the requisite 30-day period, the application shall be deemed complete. As used in this section, State water quality requirements means water quality standards approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 1313(c)(3) and in effect for purposes of the federal Clean Water Act.
(2) Within five days of the date the application is deemed complete, the Department shall issue a public notice soliciting comment on the application. The Department shall either approve or deny an application within (i) 60 days of the date the application is deemed complete if no public hearing is held or (ii) 90 days of the date the application is deemed complete if a public hearing is held. Failure of the Department to approve or deny the application within the requisite 60-day or 90-day period, as applicable, shall result in a waiver of the certification requirement by the State, unless the applicant agrees, in writing, to an extension of time, which shall not exceed one year from the State's receipt of the application for certification. The 60-day or 90-day period, as applicable, for the Department to approve or deny an application established by this subdivision shall constitute the "reasonable period of time" for State action on an application for purposes of 33 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1), absent a negotiated agreement with the federal permitting or licensing authority to extend that time frame for a period not to exceed one year.
(3) The Department shall issue a certification upon determining that the proposed discharges into navigable waters will comply with State water quality requirements. The Department shall include as conditions in a certification any applicable effluent limitations or other limitations necessary to assure the proposed discharges into navigable waters will comply with State water quality requirements. The Department shall not impose any other conditions in a certification.
(4) The Department shall deny a certification application only if it determines that no reasonable conditions would provide assurance that the proposed discharges into navigable waters will comply with State water quality requirements. The denial shall include a statement explaining why the Department determined the proposed discharges into navigable waters will not comply with the State water quality requirements.
(5) The Department may grant, deny, or waive certification but shall not require an applicant to withdraw an application.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the term "maintenance dredging project" means the repetitive removal of naturally recurring deposited bottom sediment such as sand, silt, and clays in an existing navigation channel. The navigation channel may be a previously permitted channel that was constructed or maintained under permits issued by the State or federal government. If the navigation channel in use is a natural channel or, if a human-made channel was constructed before permitting was necessary, there shall be evidence that the channel was continuously used for a specific purpose. "Maintenance dredging project" does not include activities that increase the original depth and width of a human-made or natural channel to allow a new or expanded use of the channel. (2023-137, s. 7(a); 2024-45, s. 11(a).)